China

The launch of RMB-denominated gold trading will strengthen China’s already large role in the precious metal market, but a drop in Chinese demand and an excess of red tape risk making the move a missed opportunity.

Sichuan Development Holding, which is wholly owned by the Sichuan government, priced a groundbreaking debut three year offshore renminbi bond on Thursday, July 24. Backed by multiple credit enhancements, the bond is the first CNH issue from a Chinese local state owned enterprise (SOE) to be sold without a quota from China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Rosinterbank, a Russian second tier bank, is planning to make its debut in international markets through a renminbi-denominated bond, GlobalRMB can reveal. The deal, scheduled for August, will mark the second CNH bond from a Russian issuer this year and the bank will become the fifth Russian issuer in the offshore CNH bond market.

The establishment of Frankfurt as the Eurozone’s first offshore clearing hub for renminbi trade settlement will be of huge benefit to European corporates trading with China, especially those in the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) sector, according to Frank-Oliver Wolf, global head of cash management and international business at Commerzbank.

In this round-up, two more swap line agreements are signed, China and Hong make progress on their mutual trading Stock Connect initiative and more plans are made for a Shantou pilot zone.

The recent relaxation of foreign investment restrictions in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) is unlikely to have been enough to rekindle foreign corporates' interest in the zone, say experts.

Volkswagen Financial Services has now sold auto ABS in 11 jurisdictions having priced its long awaited renminbi debut this week, with a person close to the deal saying it priced some 50bp tighter to Chinese government bonds than a virtually identical June deal from German competitor BMW Bank.

Commodities trading company Trafigura is back in the market only nine months after wrapping up a $1.76bn fundraising. This time it is looking for a loan of $1.3bn, comprising dollar and offshore renminbi tranches.

A recent first for the Formosa market — the dual Taiwan and Singapore listing of renminbi-denominated bonds from a Taiwanese corporate issuer — is unlikely to drive a flurry of similar issuance. While some in the market express hope that more issuers will follow suit, others are much less optimistic, arguing that such a small deal can never set a trend.

The principal and coupon default risk that Huatong Road & Bridge Group had warned of last week failed to happen on Wednesday, when the Chinese borrower's local government made a payment that it owed the company, according to bankers.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is close to signing a memorandum of understanding with China's central bank for the appointment of an official RMB clearing bank in the country.

Paris is growing in stature as an RMB centre in Europe, with the French central bank signing a memorandum of understanding with the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) at the end of June. GlobalRMB spoke to Denis Beau, general director of markets operations at Banque de France, about how the planned RMB payment system in France could be a game changer for the RMB in Europe and beyond.