Asia Pacific

Bank of Queensland is gearing up for its first Australian RMBS of the year. The A$500m deal adds to the A$10bn of RMBS issuance from Australia in the first half of the year.

The argument that the renminbi needs to weaken to reach fair value is deeply flawed. It is much more likely to edge higher this year and make further gains in years ahead, says Capital Economics.

Vincent Wong, a managing director in RBS’s debt capital markets (RBS) team, left the bank last week to join a rival institution in what is the latest senior move from the desk.

United Overseas Bank this week priced Asia’s first tier one Basel III-compliant bonds, getting an S$850m ($670.9m) perpetual non-call five deal away at just 4.9% — a level that even rival bankers grudgingly admitted was tighter than they had expected, writes Frances Yoon.

Offshore renminbi bonds have become more expensive to issue, but corporates can still embark on alternative strategies to refinance upcoming dim sum bond maturities economically, say experts.

In this roundup of offshore renminbi news, China expands its RQFII programme, Taiwanese renminbi deposits rise to Rmb71.2 million, and Li Keqiang takes a stand on Shanghai’s free-trade zone.

RQFII quotas make little sense for London but China should leverage Singapore’s wealth management capabilities and encourage the Lion City to become a leading offshore RMB investment centre.

Currency swap lines established between China and other central banks is a useful step in the development of the renminbi offering, but will only have real meaning when it gets activated.

Reforms promoting global investment into China’s onshore bond market will not detract from investor demand for dim sum, or from Hong Kong’s business as an RQFII centre.

Players in uncleared derivatives are undecided whether to stay in the market because the rules for margin on the trades have still to be set, according to Biswarup Chatterjee, global head of electronic trading at Citigroup in London.