Spanish bank BBVA announced Wednesday that it has signed a yuan-trade settlement with China CITIC Bank, which holds a 15-percent stake in BBVA, Caixin.com reported.

BBVA is the first Spanish bank to provide yuan-trade settlement service to corporate and commercial clients.

BBVA will offer a wide range of yuan products and services, including the trade settlement services in export and import operations, trade finance, currency conversion and remittances.

In the future, BBVA's clients will be able to settle their foreign trade operations in renminbi with companies and regions authorized by Chinese regulators, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangdong and 15 other provinces.

As of September 30, 2010, BBVA's Hong Kong branch has completed trade transactions for 34 companies through cooperation with CITIC Bank's Guangdong branch, with a total transaction volume of 1.18 billion yuan ($176 million).