FAQs about lending and cross-border safety in China | Dentons
6 min readThis short article sets out some inquiries commonly questioned by our consumers in respect of lending and cross-border protection in the People’s Republic of China (the “PRC”, and entirely for the needs of this posting, we do not refer to Hong Kong Distinctive Administrative Area, Macau Distinctive Administrative Region as perfectly as Taiwan when mentioning the PRC).
1. Is a license or regulatory acceptance demanded for foreign loan companies to lend into the PRC or acquire safety above belongings situated in the PRC?
No license or regulatory approval is needed for foreign creditors to lend cash to the PRC entities or choose the advantage of security about property situated in the PRC.
2. What are the regulatory needs on international loans / foreign money owed?
(1) Overseas financial debt boundaries
The foreign financial debt quota technique established less than the PRC guidelines requires that the chance-weighted balance of all foreign loans borrowed by a PRC borrower (other than a bank) shall not exceed its foreign financial debt quota, which shall be calculated as for every the following method:
internet property of the PRC borrower × the leverage charge of cross-border funding (currently set at 2) × the macro-prudential adjustment parameters (presently set at 1.25)
If the PRC borrower is a foreign invested company (“FIE”), it may well choose into the international personal debt quota process or undertake the outdated regime underneath which it is entitled to borrow foreign financial loans up to an amount of money equivalent to the big difference involving its complete financial investment quantity and its registered funds. The foundation for calculation of the international debt limit, after decided by the FIE, shall stay steady and shall be filed with the neighborhood administration for international exchange (“SAFE”). The legal specifications on the correlation between the overall investment decision sum and the registered capital of an FIE is mentioned in the under table:
| Total Expense Volume | Registered Capital Prerequisite (as a percentage of the overall investment) |
|---|---|
| Beneath US$3 million | 70% |
| US$3 million – 10 million | 50% (minimum US$2.1 million if the full expense sum is decrease than US$4.2 million) |
| US$10 million – 30 million | 40% (minimum US$5 million if the total expenditure volume is decrease than US$12.5 million) |
| Over US$30 million | 1/3 (minimal US$12 million if the whole expense sum is decrease than US$36 million) |
(2) Foreign financial debt registration
The PRC borrower shall file for registration with Harmless at the very least 3 operating days prior to the initial drawdown of the overseas loan. With out the foreign financial debt registration, no financial loan can be drawn or repaid by the borrower from the PRC. If any of the expression, quantity, creditor(s) or other content phrases underneath the bank loan settlement is amended, the PRC borrower shall update the registration accordingly. When the international financial loans are repaid in full, the PRC borrower shall cancel the international debt registration with Protected.
(3) NDRC filing
If the term of international financial loans is a single yr or additional, the PRC borrower shall also file the foreign financial loan with the Nationwide Improvement and Reform Fee (“NDRC”). It is value noting that the NDRC filing is also necessary wherever the borrower is an offshore entity managed by a PRC entity.
3. What are the formalities for development and perfection of pledge about shares in a PRC enterprise?
(1) Development and registration of share pledge
To generate a share pledge, (i) a share pledge agreement shall be executed by the pledgor and the pledgee (and normally the PRC firm in which the shares are pledged for the reason that it demands to support with the registration of the share pledge), and (ii) the share pledge settlement shall be filed and registered with (A) the area firm registration authority jointly by the pledgor and the pledgee or by an agent (a representative) jointly appointed by the pledgor and the pledgee, if the PRC business in which the shares are pledged is a constrained liability business, or (B) the securities depository and clearing institution (with exceptions), if these PRC company is a business confined by shares.
Loan providers in a syndicate can appoint a security agent to keep the share pledge on the syndicate’s behalf and enforce the syndicate’s legal rights under the facility paperwork, and in this circumstance the safety agent really should be registered as the pledgee. The share pledge arrangement can be executed by way of exchange of signature webpages by the get-togethers. No actual physical shipping and delivery of the software files by the pledgee and/or the pledgor is required if an agent is jointly appointed by them to submit the software for the registration of the Share Pledge.
(2) Cross-border security registration
Two styles of cross-border stability shall be registered with Risk-free, a single is domestic safety for international financial loans (“NBWD”, 内保外贷) and the other is overseas stability for domestic loans (“WBND”, 外保内贷). NBWD implies the security offered by a domestic entity located in the PRC in favor of a international entity located outside the house the PRC to safe repayment by a borrower located outside the PRC, and WBND refers to the stability furnished by a international entity found exterior the PRC in favor of a PRC entity to safe compensation by a borrower positioned in the PRC. If the share pledge is produced by a international shareholder of an FIE in favor of a foreign pledgee to protected repayment by a overseas borrower, no cross-border stability registration is demanded for these kinds of share pledge. Nonetheless, if the share pledge is created by a PRC shareholder of a PRC organization in favor of a overseas pledgee to protected reimbursement by a foreign borrower, cross-border stability registration shall be accomplished.
(3) Enforcement of share pledge
In the party of a default by the borrower and the pledgor under the facility paperwork, the pledgor can not unilaterally have the pledged shares marketed or transferred to itself or a third get together and shall post the circumstance to the court for enforcement of the share pledge. If the pledged shares would be transferred to a foreign entity, the necessities for foreign expenditure less than the PRC laws shall be complied with.
4. Are there any protection registration specifications for provision of a assurance?
If a assure constitutes NBWD or WBND, the ensure shall be registered with Safe. Safe and sound would choose a prudent solution to analyze the application for cross-border protection registration and evaluate the rationality and authenticity of creation of the assurance as perfectly as the chance of performance of such assurance and payment by the PRC entity from the PRC (in individual in the circumstance of NBWD) to establish if these types of guarantee could be registered. Devoid of completion of these cross-border security registration, no cross-border stream of cash could be made to or from the PRC.
5. Is generation of pledge of receivables in favor of a foreign pledgee lawfully achievable and what formalities shall be followed?
Creation of the pledge of receivables in favor of a foreign pledgee is lawfully attainable. In get for the pledge of receivables to develop into effective, (i) an arrangement for the pledge of receivables shall be executed by the pledgee and the pledgor, and (ii) the pledge of receivables shall be registered with the Credit Reference Centre of the People’s Bank of China.
In practice, it is essential for the pledgee to (a) accomplish because of diligence on the fundamental receivables about which the pledge would be made to assure the ownership, authenticity, volume and payment time period of this kind of receivables (b) enter into a tripartite letter of confirmation on the receivables with the vendor (the pledgor) and the purchaser (debtor of the receivables) to guarantee that the customer acknowledges the pledge of receivables and agrees to shell out to the designated escrow account opened by the pledgor with a financial institution in the PRC and (c) enter into an escrow agreement with the pledgor and a bank in the PRC (as the escrow agent), pursuant to which the pledgor shall open up an escrow account to receive the receivables from the potential buyers and no outward transfer shall be built without instruction or approval of the pledgee. The escrow account must be opened with a bank in the PRC because of to overseas exchange regulation.
