Asia Pacific

There have been around $4.79bn of offshore renminbi bonds sold this year, including more than $2bn from issuers outside of Hong Kong and China, the usual drivers of supply. Read on for the full league tables.

The US financial centre would be an ideal offshore renminbi hub, but bellicose political rhetoric against China means it will be unable to take advantage of this opportunity for a long time to come.

The region’s local currency bonds will be a haven from a turbulent future for emerging markets and the CNH market should thrive going forward, according to Pictet Asset Management.

Selected Chinese corporates will be allowed to tap renminbi liquidity in Hong Kong via the loan market. Remittance is permitted and the programme could be expanded to other provinces.

Some observers consider the central government’s plan to develop the local municipal bond market as an alternative funding source to be positive, but sceptics believe it is bank financing by another name.

Philippine conglomerate SM Investments Corp has started marketing the sale of up to Ps15bn ($351m) of retail bonds to domestic investors, its second offering in the local market in the last nine months.

Chinese telecommunications equipment company Huawei Technologies debuted in the offshore renminbi bond market late last week, raising Rmb1bn ($158m) through a private placement.

Singapore’s Ezion Holdings launched a three year bond in the city-state’s domestic bond market on Monday, its first tap of a $500m multi-currency debt issuance programme set up last week.

The UK-headquartered bank was considered the best for overall offshore renminbi services and the standout institution across a set of other categories in ASIAMONEY's debut survey of this growing market.

The Chinese government has loosened rules on corporations selling debt in the offshore renminbi market, making the approval for mainland companies to sell dim sum bonds easier than it is for them to sell debt on the mainland. But the rising cost of funding offshore means there will not be a big rise in volumes in the near-term, according to HSBC analysts.

Taiwan may have ambitions of becoming an offshore renminbi trading centre – with China fanning the flame – but Taiwan shouldn’t bet on it transpiring.

As China liberalises its capital account and pushes for a more internationalised renminbi, Hong Kong’s role as the powerful intermediary between the mainland and the global financial market will diminish. Is there anything the financial hub can do to retain its present allure? Anita Davis reports.