Bank of China, China's second-biggest lender, will start trading eight overseas currency pairs in Shanghai as the mainland government prepares for a more flexible exchange rate system.

　　The bank will start trading the pairs in May on the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, the trading center said in a statement on its Website. The currency pairs are the US dollar against each of the Australian dollar, the British pound, the euro, the Japanese yen, the Canadian dollar, the Swiss franc and the Hong Kong dollar, and the euro against the yen.

　　China has been under pressure to ease its yuan's decade-old peg of about 8.3 to the US dollar, which the United States, Japan and other countries say artificially depresses the yuan's value and gives Chinese exporters an unfair advantage.

　　The government has said it plans to move to a more flexible currency system, without giving a timetable.

　　The Shanghai-based China Foreign Exchange Trade System is controlled by the central bank. The trade system currently trades four currency pairs, including the yuan against each of the US dollar, the euro, the Hong Kong dollar and the Japanese yen.

　　(Bloomberg News)