Britain and China have signed a financial agreement that is designed to boost direct investment between the two countries. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer who is visiting Beijing is trying to ensure that London is the leading destination for Chinese investment. The deal does two things. It relaxes restrictions on Chinese banks based in Britain with the intention of allowing them to bring more money into the country and for the first time it allows London-based investors to put their holdings of Chinese currency directly into Chinese markets. At the moment they can only do this via Hong Kong or Taiwan. The U.K. Treasury hopes that securing this status ahead of other global financial capitals will make London the leading destination for Chinese banks and businesses looking to expand abroad.