China

The Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) is approaching its first birthday, but the benefits of liberalisation for traders have been partly offset by heavy compliance requirements for the financial institutions managing the transactions.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) became the largest issuer of London-listed renminbi bonds on Wednesday, as it priced its second benchmark size print in the currency this year.

This week has been another banner period for offshore RMB business in London, with the UK government announcing an upcoming CNH sovereign bond, ICBC opening a wholesale branch in London, the UK’s inclusion in a future RQDII programme and the granting of another RQFII licence for a UK firm.

China’s Datang Telecom Technology & Industry is meeting investors for what could be the borrower’s debut international bond. The state owned company is looking to make a Reg S issue in the dim sum market.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) priced its Singapore and Taiwan listed offshore renminbi bond on September 15, with Taiwan investors in particular flocking to the deal.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) announced on Tuesday (September 16) that it had designated Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Luxembourg Branch as the official renminbi clearing bank for Luxembourg. The move came one day after the PBoC appointed Bank of China Paris Branch as the RMB clearing bank in France.

As it celebrates the first five years of its China equity fund, investment manager Neuberger Berman said it expects investors’ interest in Chinese securities to explode as the regulatory walls around the Chinese capital markets begin to be torn down.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) announced on Monday that it had appointed Bank of China Paris Branch (BoC Paris) as the official RMB clearing bank for France. BNP Paribas, meanwhile, was also granted its own RQFII licence.

Cagamas Global, a wholly-owned offshore subsidiary of Cagamas, the Malaysian national mortgage corporation, priced its debut renminbi denominated three year bond at 3.70% late September 12. Investors showed great interest in the new name, as the total book size was over Rmb4.6bn ($733m) from 87 accounts.

China Development Bank raised Rmb2bn ($325m) from a dim sum bond issued in London on Friday on a day that saw a raft of announcements intended to boost the use of offshore renminbi in the city as bankers and policymakers took part in the 6th UK-China Economic Financial Dialogue.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China’s biggest state-owned bank and Singapore’s renminbi clearing bank, has opened books for its Singapore and Taiwan dual listing RMB bond. The multi tranche deal of two, five and seven years will mark the bank’s debut Formosa bond, and the borrower is also hoping to make it the biggest Lion City bond to date, targeting a size of Rmb4bn ($652m).

The UK government announced on Friday that it was planning to sell an offshore renminbi bond, which would make it the first sovereign outside China to do so. A slew of supranational and agency issuers have been drawn to the market this week following favourable moves in the dollar/renminbi basis swap.