China

Chinese leasing firm Far East Horizon was one of the first issuers to reopen the international bond market after a lull of more than a week, raising $300m from a dual-currency transaction on Thursday. But it was forced to pay up for the dollar portion due to lingering volatility in the market.

China is aligning itself with central banks around the world by giving the People’s Bank of China a leading role in regulating financial markets, Xu Zhong, head of the research bureau at the PBoC, has argued.

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) takes control of Anbang Insurance Group amid concerns over its finances, Fullerton Fund Management offers its first private fund in the onshore market, and the renminbi remains the fifth most used payments currency in January 2018.

The Republic of Turkey is preparing to issue its first Panda bond by the end of the year, having mandated three banks to handle the deal.

Chinese issuers are back following the Lunar New Year break. Far East Horizon and Redco Properties Group are both wooing bond investors, effectively reopening the dollar debt market in Asia.

The People’s Bank of China has laid out its next moves to upgrade the domestic bond markets, including better market standards, clearer default rules and further opening to foreign investors — steps that could make regulators less active in the corporate debt market.

Chinese financial services provider Far East Horizon is pursuing the sale of a dollar-denominated and offshore renminbi bond.

China’s FX watchdog loosens its grip on FX forward settlement, HSBC becomes the first foreign bank to handle an individual RMB remittance transaction following a rule change in January and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stopped an attempt by Chinese investors to acquire the Chicago Stock Exchange.

HSBC's annual results show the bank's focus on RMB business has yet to translate into revenue growth.

A hardening of the US attitude to Iran, tensions with Turkey and the Qatari crisis may be closing some doors for trade in the Middle East but experts are convinced it is opening others, with China's One Belt, One Road initiative pushing countries such as China, India and Russia towards the region.

Ganfeng Lithium Co, the world’s largest producer of lithium metals, has filed a draft IPO prospectus with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

A Chinese company’s decision to pay an extra 300bp in coupon to defer payments on its onshore perpetual notes has not only shocked the domestic bond market, but also inevitably raised concerns offshore. Bankers and investors are now paying much closer attention to the onshore/offshore dynamics.