China

The recent reforms to liberalise China inbound investments have reignited discussions about a merger of the qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) scheme with the RMB QFII (RQFII) initiative. News emerging today suggests regulators are keen to move forward with the harmonisation of existing rules.

Chinese search engine company Baidu is dipping its toes into the international loan market for a $1bn debut fundraising, following in the heels of other technology majors like Alibaba Group and Tencent.

Concord New Energy Group has become the first non-financial issuer to sell a green bond in China’s domestic debt market.

Shanghai-listed Guotai Junan Securities Co said its vice-president has left the firm for personal reasons.

The CNY NDIRS curve is steeper after a stronger CNY fix backed light offers in the short end while improved price data triggered paying around the five year tenor. Meanwhile, Nigeria is considering issuing a Panda bond, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

The volatility in renminbi markets has meant local corporates have had to adjust their expectations for the RMB, but Commonwealth Bank of Australia is seeing the currency growing in popularity.

Onfem Finance, a wholly owned subsidiary of Minmetals Land, has hit the loan market for a HK$3bn ($386.7m) four year financing.

Qingdao Port International is en route to its debut offshore bond issuance and plans to seek approval from its shareholders at an annual general meeting on June 6.

The Brics bank is to finally make its capital markets debut later this month by issuing green bonds in RMB with the proceeds to be channelled into energy and infrastructure projects, sources have told Emerging Markets, a sister publication of GlobalCapital Asia.

Having left investment banking a while ago, I’m baffled by the increasingly arcane and complex rules that now plague the business — the Chinese Mainland being a particular case in point, writes Philippe Espinasse.

Hong Kong has a very important role to play in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, with the financial centre expected to be accepted as a member as early as June 2016, said Jin Liqun, president of AIIB, at a forum held in Hong Kong on Thursday.

In this round-up, China reports the first gain in foreign exchange reserves for March, a treasury official said preparations for the Shenzhen Connect have been completed, an RMB globalisation index dropped further in February, and Deutsche Bank assisted a corporate client set up a cross-border RMB liquidity solution. Plus, a recap of our top stories this week.