(Yicai Global) Feb. 14 -- Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC), a subsidiary of UK-based HSBC Holdings plc, has achieved its first personal cross-border yuan remittance transaction, it announced today.

It is the first foreign bank to offer this service after the People's Bank of China enabled the cross-border yuan business last month. HSBC transferred a remittance by a Chinese working in Australia, depositing a sum of cash into the yuan account of the worker's relatives in China through the bank's Australian branch, cnstock.com reported.

As ever more Chinese enterprises set foot overseas and recruit  Chinese from local markets, both enterprises and individuals are seeing a growing demand for cross-border yuan wire transfers. The new service enabled this time will help simplify remittance procedures, mitigate the risks of exchange-rate fluctuations, and lower the cost of cross-border remittances, said Helen Wong, HSBC Greater China's chief executive.

HSBC has already started yuan services for the retail sector in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe, and North America regions. For corporate business, it is also the world's first bank to conduct yuan settlement services for cross-border trade in all six inhabited continents, with service outlets covering 25 major overseas markets. As China's Belt and Road initiative gains steam, ever more measures will facilitate cross-border yuan use, Wong predicts.