投資者對上海自貿區頭一年表示失望

Investors have expressed disappointment over slow progress on easing capital controls and other financial reforms in the zone in the year since its launch. Data released on Friday confirmed the FTZ was a long way from becoming an international finance hub.

投資者表示，對於上海自由貿易區(FTZ)成立一年來在放鬆資本管制和推行其他金融改革方面進展緩慢，他們感到失望。週五發佈的數據證實，上海自貿區距離成爲國際金融中心還很遙遠。

Cross-border renminbi fund flows totalled Rmb156bn ($25bn), just 15 per cent of Shanghai’s total cross-border flows, Zheng Yang, director of the Shanghai financial services office, said in a briefing.

上海市金融服務辦公室主任鄭楊在簡報中表示，跨境人民幣資金流動總額爲1560億元（合250億美元），僅佔全市總量的15%。

But Mr Zheng also hinted that more substantive changes may yet be in the pipeline, so long as they do not lead to volatile fund flows.

但鄭楊也暗示，會有更多實質性變化，只要這些變化不導致資金流動異常波動。

“Free-trade [bank] accounts haven’t become a channel for hot money and arbitrage. Everything is normal. This is good preparation for the next step of conducting stress tests on capital-account opening,” he said.

他說：“自由貿易賬戶資金流動正常，沒有成爲熱錢流入套利和資金向內滲透的管道，這爲下一步資本市場壓力測試提供條件。”

Last December the central bank established a framework for special FTZ bank accounts that enable easy transfer between overseas accounts. The rules also appeared to allow for transfers between FTZ accounts and bank accounts in the rest of China under certain conditions. In practice, however, regulators have been cautious about opening that channel.

去年12月，中國央行爲自貿區賬戶創建了一套制度，讓海外賬戶之間能夠方便地轉賬。這些規則看上去也允許自貿區賬戶與中國其他地區銀行賬戶在某些情況下相互轉賬。不過，監管者在實踐中對放開這一渠道一直很謹慎。

“Right now moving funds from inside the FTZ to outside isn’t allowed,” Zhou Hong, president of the FTZ branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, told the Financial Times. “We call it the ‘second line’. Strictly speaking it’s still considered a cross-border transfer. Permeability is limited.”

“眼下從自貿區內向外轉移資金是不允許的。”中國工商銀行(ICBC)自貿區分行行長周宏表示。“我們稱之爲‘二線’。嚴格來說它仍被視爲跨境轉賬。資金滲透能力有限。”

Such transfers are allowed only if the funds are used for trade or another approved purpose, she added.

她補充表示，這種轉賬只在資金用途爲貿易或另一種被批准的目的時才被允許。

Indeed, regulators remain concerned about controlling the flow of speculative capital across borders. On Thursday the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said an investigation launched in April last year revealed $10bn in fake trade used as a cover for illicit fund flows.

事實上，監管機構仍關注於控制投機資金的跨境流動。週四，國家外匯管理局(State Administration of Foreign Exchange)表示，去年4月開啓的一項調查已查出100億美元的虛假貿易被用於掩護非法資金流動。

Some analysts remain cynical about the prospects for more broad-based capital-account opening, arguing that the creation of dedicated zones is a means to strengthen government control rather than relinquishing it.

一些分析師仍然對更廣泛的資本賬戶放開前景感到懷疑。他們認爲，政府設立特別區域是爲了加強管控，而不是放棄管控。

“These zones create corporate black boxes through which the anointed may flow money in and out of China,” Anne Stevenson-Yang, founder of Beijing-based consultancy J Capital Research, wrote in a note on Monday. “Clear rules have not been promulgated; the regime is, as they say, crossing the river by feeling for stones. That means that some people have more flexibility than others, all under supervision of regulators who decide passage on a case-by-case basis or at least company-by-company basis.

“這些區域製造了企業暗箱，受到‘欽點’的人可以通過暗箱將資金轉入和轉出中國。”美奇金投資諮詢公司(J Capital Research)創始人楊思安(Anne Stevenson-Yang)週一在一份簡報中指出，“政府並沒有公佈明確的規則。整個機制是在所謂的摸着石頭過河。這意味着一部分人擁有比另一部分人更大的自由，一切都在監管機構的指導下進行，它們按照每個具體案例、或至少每家公司的情況，決定該如何走。”

“If there were a general intention to open the capital account and make renminbi into an international currency, either no such filter would be needed or the rules governing the use of these channels would be explicit and transparent.”

“如果總體的打算是開放資本賬戶、讓人民幣成爲國際貨幣，那麼要麼不需要設置這些關卡，要麼這些渠道會有明確、透明的使用規則。”