· Hong Kong saw offshore renminbi deposits rise by 5.8% in November to Rmb827 billion (US$136.7 billion) from the previous month, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) reported on December 31. The HKMA additionally noted that cross-border renminbi trade settlement grew to Rmb429.4 billion that month, up from Rmb315.3 billion in October.
· A subsidiary of the Bank of East Asia (BEA) announced on December 31 that it had received regulatory approval from the Shanghai office of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) to set up in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ). It is one of the first international banks to launch in the FTZ, following institutions such as DBS, which announced that it had received approval to start operating in the zone from December 31.
· The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is allowing the International Finance Corp (IFC) to invest up to Rmb12 billion into China’s interbank bond market. The IFC, which is the World Bank’s investment arm, aims to use the opportunity to enhance liquidity management and offer renminbi-denominated loans to private companies onshore.
· China’s renminbi currency rose 2.91% against the US dollar through 2013, more than the 1.02% rise a year earlier, according to data provided by Market News International, a news wire associated with Deutsche Boerse, the stock exchange group.
The renminbi rose 4.7% against the dollar in 2011, 3.63% in 2010, 7.05% in 2008 and 6.86% in 2007. It fell 0.06% in 2009.
· Cross-border renminbi-denominated loans into the Qianhai special economic zone are expected to grow tenfold to more than Rmb100 billion by the end of 2015, Zhang Bei, director of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong modern service industry cooperation zone administration, told Xinhua on December 19. The 15-square-kilometre area outside Shenzhen has received more than Rmb10 billion of offshore renminbi loans since the end of 2012, when regulators permitted Hong Kong banks to finance projects in the special economic area.
· Offshore renminbi deposits in Singapore reached Rmb172 billion by October 2013, Singaporean media reported, citing the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). In July, MAS officials noted that the country had Rmb140 billion of deposits.
· UK-based Ashmore Group became the first asset management company outside Hong Kong to be granted a renminbi qualified institutional investor (RQFII) quota, the company announced on January 7. The approval comes after the China Regulatory and Securities Commission said that UK asset managers would receive a collective Rmb80billion RQFII quota.
· The Standard Chartered Renminbi Globalisation Index rose to 1,301 in November, up 6.1% from October and 78.9% year-on-year, attributed to growth in deposit and cross-border payments. Of the top renminbi users, Standard Chartered found that Chinese corporates generally have lower CNH usage rates than Hong Kong and multinational corporates, but have large catch-up potential.
· On January 8, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) announced the launch of a US$100 million private equity fund under the Shanghai Qualified Foreign Limited Partner (QFLP) pilot programme. The approval allows the Singaporean bank to invest directly in China’s onshore companies by converting up to US$100 million worth of foreign capital into renminbi.