China

The China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) published details of an exchange rate index for the renminbi for the first time on December 11. The index is based on a basket of 13 currencies, including the dollar, euro and yen.

A $200m equivalent borrowing for Yue Xiu Enterprises has been launched into syndication with one bank at the helm.

Chinese technology firm Tencent Holdings has closed its borrowing at $2.45bn, nearly double the original launch size.

The US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised federal funds rate for the first time since the financial crisis, opting for a 25bp increase. The move had been widely expected, but analysts are expecting a degree of volatility, at least in the offshore RMB (CNH) markets.

A spate of aggressively structured acquisition loans arranged by Chinese banks, dubbed ‘Chinese TLB’ sent ripples through the syndicated loan market this year. Foreign banks, unable to match terms offered by their Chinese counterparts, are having to deal with shrinking opportunities to finance offshore Chinese M&A, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

China’s equity markets crashed spectacularly in the middle of the year after an impressive rally, before rebounding again in the last quarter. With the dust now settled, bankers reckon 2016 will be a bumpy but easier year to navigate. Rashmi Kumar reports.

Short-end CNY swaps have been bid on the weaker CNY trend and the 1s/5s curve slope is flatter. China has expanded its ties with UAE. South Korea issued the first Panda bond by a foreign sovereign, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

Invitations are out for a $200m-equivalent borrowing by Yue Xiu Enterprises (Holdings), a company owned by the Guangzhou government.

Despite the progress in the usage of renminbi globally, multi-currency settlement provider CLS has yet to include the RMB on its platform. This, according to sources familiar with the review, is largely due to China's shortcoming in its payment infrastructure as well as broader concerns about China’s legal framework.

The South Korean government became the first sovereign credit to price a Panda bond on December 15. The country raised Rmb3bn ($467m) from the three year, which saw at least one offshore investor participating, sources close to the deal told GlobalCapital Asia’s sister publication, GlobalRMB.

New York Stock Exchange listed Trina Solar is the latest Chinese company to announce plans to go private, and has picked Industrial Bank as the financial adviser and arranger of the debt financing.

China’s move to measure the renminbi against a trade weighted basket of currencies rather than just the US dollar is a sign from that central bank that it will be more tolerate of a weakening RMB, say FX traders.