Asia Pacific

TMB Bank priced the first dim sum bond out of Thailand on March 2, raising Rmb600m ($97m) with a three year offering.

China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Development Group (CSSD) is eyeing the first renminbi bond from an issuer in the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), a China-Singapore joint venture area. But after more than a year of preparation, the deal faces two issues that have delayed its final launch, two sources have told GlobalRMB.

Thailand’s TMB Bank is set to end a nine year absence from the international bond market having started receiving bids for an offshore RMB (CNH) bond on March 2. If successful, TMB could become the first Thai issuer to print in the currency.

China plans to allow its corporates to issue renminbi bonds in jurisdictions all over the world to support their cross-border funding, an official at the People's Bank of China (PBoC) told a conference in Beijing.

Australian financial institutions are facing a much brighter future in China, after a free trade agreement opened up the possibility of easier access to the country's banking system. But for now the main opportunities are still going to lie offshore — and, in particular, with the mouth-watering possibilities of the offshore renminbi market. Matthew Thomas reports.

India's capital markets are finally getting the lease of life that bankers and issuers have long craved. Spurred on by political change that has put enterprise and investment firmly on the agenda, regulators are seeking to revamp an environment that has often appeared more designed to prevent progress than permit it. Hopes are high that the results will be seen in 2015, as Elliot Wilson reports.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) added ten new names to the list of RMB qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) licensees in January, while the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) approved quotas for four South Korean firms in February. With RQFII gradually being rolled out to more regions in the world, market participants have realised that banks are able to play a much bigger role than just being custodians.

In this round-up, RQFII participants to get stiff tax bill, A-share short selling starts on the Stock Connect next week, HKMA revises its RMB liquidity facility, new free trade zone launches are now just days away, and the Hungarian central bank launches an RMB initiative.

Market participants are eagerly awaiting more details of China's new “One Belt One Road” programme, which they expect to be released at the upcoming National People's Congress (NPC). The reforms are set to take inspiration from the Shanghai FTZ experiment.

Goldman Sachs is set to list the longest tenor Formosa bond on March 3. The Rmb525m ($84m) 12 year deal, which had a formal pricing date of February 3 but was conducted with very little fanfare and has only just come to the attention of market participants, is also notable for being a zero coupon issue.

The Hong Kong government will be working with mainland authorities to launch a stock link with Shenzhen and to increase its RQFII quota, Hong Kong financial secretary John Tsang said in the annual budget speech.

Woori Bank and Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) are planning to launch their debut Formosa bonds in March, adding two more Korean names to the list of international issuers in Taiwan’s renminbi bond market, sources close to the deals have told GlobalRMB.