Asia Pacific

Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFE) and Deutsche Börse agreed on Wednesday to launch a joint venture that would allow international investors to trade financial instruments offering underlying exposure to China.

Index provider FTSE Russell said on May 26 it would allocate a 5% weighting to Chinese A-shares in two new FTSE Emerging Markets indices, with a plan to progressively increase the share to as much as 32%.

The renminbi has strengthened its position as the top currency used in Asia-Pacific business with Greater China, accounting for a 31% share compared to 7% in April 2012, according to the latest data released by Swift.

By Rahul Ghosh, a Vice President and Senior Research Analyst for Moody's Investors Service.

Société Générale joined a select club of non-Chinese banks to sell a Basel III bond in offshore renminbi (CNH) on May 26. The French lender achieved both its cost saving and diversification goals with the 10 year non-call five tier two bond.

Chile has taken the prized spot of being the first Latin American renminbi hub, with a clearing bank, a central bank swap line and an RMB qualified foreign institutional investors (RQFII) quota all being announced on May 25.

Société Générale hopes to save funding cost by turning to the offshore renminbi (CNH) bond market to shore up its Basel III tier two capital adequacy ratio, opening books for a 10 year non call five year trade on May 26.

A ground-breaking and long-awaited mutual fund recognition scheme between China and Hong Kong is set to launch on July 1, with an overall quota of Rmb600bn ($48.4bn) split equally between the two channels.

The latest move to liberalise China's markets has improved risk appetite and backed paying interest in CNY swaps. Early steepening in the 1s/5s slope has pushed payers down the curve from five years to the three year tenor, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

China Development Bank (CDB) is planning to bring its debut Formosa bond in the third quarter of 2015, in a deal that could help transform Taiwan's RMB market by injecting longer tenors and exposure to an onshore China bank credit.

Chinese broker Southwest Securities became the latest offshore renminbi (CNH) issuer to take advantage of abundant liquidity in the market when it sold a three year dim sum bond on May 21. The unrated debutant achieved its targeted aims in terms of pricing and size.

Structured medium term notes denominated in renminbi could be set to take off as cuts in interest rates drive Chinese investors to look for a way to boost returns.