Asia Pacific

Market participants have welcomed the first offshore renminbi interest rate swap (IRS) but say hurdles remain.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has streamlined renminbi netting procedures for specific corporations in order to spur the usage of the Chinese currency in cross-border trade settlements.

Debt capital market (DCM) sources say that Hong Kong’s goal to be a hub for Islamic bond issuance may be too ambitious to accomplish unless it offers incentives.

Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) has postponed plans to issue a corporate hybrid in the Singapore dollar market, citing a weak secondary background that made it tough for the leads to build a firm order book.

Woori Bank could sell its first ever Australian bond in the second half of this year, as part of the South Korean lender’s efforts to diversify its investor base and hit a funding target of around $1bn.

Korean and Singaporean corporates are showing a significant increase in appetite for RMB settlement services in Asia, according to a new report from Standard Chartered.

Offshore renminbi issuers will increasingly choose to move out along the maturity curve over the course of 2012, responding to rising demand from investors for longer-dated paper in a market that is still largely concentrated on the short-end of the curve, according to bankers and analysts.

Banks and corporations sold around $3.4bn of offshore renminbi bonds in the first quarter of 2012, up more than 10% on the previous quarter. Read on for a breakdown of quarterly volumes since the start of 2009 — and the list of the top 10 bookrunners in the market so far this year.

Hong Kong-listed New World China Land included a novel feature on its debut in the offshore renminbi bond market, adding a letter of support from its parent, New World Development, to give extra comfort to investors in the high yield issue.

Hong Kong will be the first beneficiary of Wenzhou’s new pilot programme, which allows the Chinese city’s investors to access overseas financial assets, believes the bank.

The size of the renminbi asset pool in Hong Kong is set to rise as the currency is used more for trade settlement and Chinese companies look to hedge their exposure, says Nomura.