Renminbi exchange in Taiwan

[skylee]

This is in the news today -> PBOC approves Taiwan yuan services

Quote:

"The People's Bank of China has given the green light for banks in Taiwan to carry out yuan exchange services. Under the arrangement, the banks can extend the service to other authorised financial institutions on the island. The arrangement will come into effect on Thursday. The PBOC says more negotiations are needed on whether to expand the service to cover deposit, remittance and trade settlement."

And Hong Kong will be the intermediary -> Hong Kong Renminbi Clearing Platform to Conduct Exchange, Supply and Repatriation of Renminbi cashnotes for Taiwan

the Renminbi Clearing Bank in Hong Kong will provide renminbi cashnote exchange and related services to the Hong Kong branches of eligible Taiwan commercial banks as determined by Taiwan. In turn, the Taiwan head offices of such commercial banks will provide renminbi cashnote exchange services to other authorised financial institutions in Taiwan, for the purpose of serving personal customers locally.

香港人民幣業務清算行將會向經台灣方面許可的台灣商業銀行的香港分行（即現鈔業務行）提供人民幣現鈔兌換等相關服務。台灣經許可的金融機構則可以與上述現鈔業務行的台灣總行進行人民幣現鈔買賣，用作為台灣當地個人客戶提供人民幣現鈔兌換服務。

[roddy]

Was it actually the case that RMB weren't available, or will this just make them more available and perhaps cheaper? I remember being able to get RMB in the UK in 1998 - had to put in an order, but they had them.