Greater China

Hong Kong lender Bank of East Asia has reopened its HK$3bn one year note, adding a further HK$2.1bn and creating the largest single bond launched in the currency.

China’s central bank is encouraging companies to use the newly established Shanghai Interbank Offered Rates, or Shibor, as a benchmark for pricing bond issues, after the first corporate bond was priced using the new system.

Emirates Bank International, the Dubai-based lender, priced a Bt2bn ($57m) bond last week at a coupon of 4.58%, setting a new landmark in Thailand’s growing domestic bond market.