China will speed up the launch of a trial program that will allow individuals to invest directly in overseas securities, said Wu Panwen, a vice-governor of the People's Bank of China's branch in Tianjin.

Wu made the remarks in an essay published Monday in the central bank-backed Financial News. The essay was on financial reforms in Tianjin, the site of some trials of foreign-exchange reforms.

The trial investment program, announced in August but yet to be launched, will allow individuals to invest in securities on the Hong Kong bourse through Bank of China Ltd's  Tianjin branch.

Wu also said Tianjin will implement a policy of letting banks maintain a net negative position in foreign currencies on the local foreign-exchange market.

Such a policy would allow banks to sell more dollars than they buy, instead of buying more dollars than they sell.