The Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, in Fujian province, now has the right to do independent pricing in its New Taiwan dollar exchanges, the Pingtan branch of Fujian's State Foreign Exchange Administration office, reported on Wednesday.

The approval for the Bank of China's (BOC) Pingtan branch to set the buy or sale price of the New Taiwan dollar "within a certain range" came from the BOC Fujian branch, on May 24, and is effective as of June 1.

This makes the Pingtan branch the first bank in the province to have this independent pricing power.

In the first four months this year, there was a total of NT$7.6 million ($256,500) worth of exchange, or more than four times the amount for the same period in 2012, at NT$1.5 million. As the first economic zone to open to Taiwan, Pingtan has seen quite a number of cross-Straits trades in New Taiwan dollars, and the purpose of this authorization is to curb the black market trade, which can offer a more favorable exchange rate than the banks.

Now that they have this pricing right, the banks in Pingtan has started taking some business back from the black marketers and their lower exchange rates, according to the local foreign exchange bureau and this is also conducive to stopping the business in counterfeit banknotes, and can cut the price difference between the banks and black market rate and help the healthy development of the exchange business, one financial specialist pointed out.

Six bank branches can now do business in New Taiwan dollars -- the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial Bank, and the Fujian Haixia Bank.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Roger Bradshaw