China

Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) — the Hungarian central bank — is planning to buy RMB-denominated bonds for its official holdings.

In this pre-Easter round-up: RMB deposits and cross-border RMB trade settlement both take a hit in February, the Shanghai International Energy Exchange is set to allow foreign participants to trade RMB futures, and Bank of China is looking at Austria for new branches and RMB business in Europe.

Crédit Agricole CIB (CACIB) has launched a new dim sum bond index tracking SSAs, FIs and corporates, with cross-currency swaps (CCS) and the offshore RMB (CNH) outlook emerging as key factors influencing issuance.

Efforts by China’s top regulators to promote the inclusion of the renminbi into the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket may have paid off. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch think the move is likely to happen and estimate the RMB's potential weighting to be 13%.

The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect notched up record trading in its southbound channel on March 30, as H-shares continue to change hands at deep discounts to their mainland counterparts.

ANZ has set itself the goal of servicing its transaction banking clients as easily in renminbi as in any other currency. And central to that effort are three new appointments it has just put in place in its transaction banking and trading units in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Just as China’s domestic markets have finally started to open up through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect scheme, heavily discounted H-share IPOs threaten to put a damper on the attractiveness of A-shares to international investors, writes Philippe Espinasse.

China has released new rules expanding its municipal bond programme and providing a debt swap quota for local governments. Observers welcome the new measures which they hope will encourage transparency over debt levels and provide local authorities with more funding flexibility.

In this round-up, three new free trade zones receive Politburo approval for an end of March launch and ICBC and Bank of China report huge rise in cross-border RMB clearing business.

Zhongrong International Trust is set to start is non deal roadshow next week with a series of investor meetings in Asia and Europe, a banker close to the deal told GlobalRMB.

China Construction Bank (CCB) and Commerzbank have launched the first Ucits-compliant ETF fund under China’s RQFII scheme. The fund, which was announced on March 25, will invest in China’s money market.

The Securities Association of China (SAC) has issued guidelines that call on its members to rein in their fast-growing stock-pledged repo loans business.