HONG KONG, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, or BOCHK, will conduct the first cross-border Renminbi trade settlement transaction on Monday, marking the launch of a Renminbi trade settlement pilot scheme, the bank said on Sunday.

    This is "an important milestone" of the use of Renminbi outside the Chinese mainland "in an orderly manner," the bank said.

    In a related development, a member of the senior management of the mainland-based Bank of China, the mother firm of BOCHK, said that the first transaction would involve BOCHK and the Shanghai subsidiary of Bank of China. The trading firms involved will be a subsidiary of Shanghai Electric Group and its Hong Kong-based counterpart.

    BOCHK said it will launch a wide spectrum of Renminbi trade settlement and finance services for its corporate customers to conduct Renminbi-denominated trade transactions between Hong Kong and the five mainland cities covered by the pilot scheme, namely, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan and Zhuhai.

    The Renminbi trade settlement products launched by BOCHK will cover remittance, export and import bills collection, L/C issuance, L/C negotiation and discounting, export and import invoice financing, as well as packing and import loans.

    The bank also said it had enhanced its "RMB Merchant Link" service to provide a one-stop solution for corporate clients.