CHINA’S central bank said Sunday it has tapped Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) as the clearing bank for Chinese currency transactions in the Canadian market.

    The announcement by the People’s Bank of China comes one day after China and Canada reached a broad agreement on expanding the use of the yuan in the Canadian market. ICBC, China’s largest bank in terms of assets, becomes the first yuan-clearing bank in North America.

    China has been actively promoting greater use of its currency in global trade and investment in a bid to give the yuan an expanded role on the world stage and eventually make it a major reserve currency alongside the U.S. dollar and the euro, according to Chinese economists.

    In the agreement reached Saturday during a visit to Beijing by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the two countries agreed to set up a currency swap line worth the equivalent of US$32 billion. China also granted Canadian financial institutions a 50 billion yuan (US$8.2 billion) quota to invest in China’s capital markets, according to statements from the Canadian Government and the People’s Bank of China.

    China’s central bank has signed swap agreements with a number of countries, including a 35 billion yuan swap line with Qatar last week to boost financial dealings with the gas-rich Gulf state. ICBC was also named the clearing bank for Qatar. (SD-Agencies)