Malaysia

In this round-up, Chinese regulators have further delayed any expansion of the qualified domestic institutional investor, Vanguard has completed its transition to a FTSE index that includes A-shares, and Malaysia’s new payment system adds support for RMB debt securities. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s coverage this week.

Bursa Malaysia has overhauled a range of government securities futures products to create a Malaysian government bond benchmark for local and foreign investors.

It has been 10 months since Malaysia received its renminbi qualified institutional investor (RQFII) allotment from China yet not a single institution from the southeast Asian country has been able to attain a licence. However, the lack of progress is about to end with several market participants telling GlobalRMB they are confident the first RQFII licence could be awarded by the end of the year.

Silk Road bonds are one of the latest gimmicks bankers are trying to promote with an event dedicated to the topic taking place in Hong Kong last week. While the concept of the bonds, linked directly to China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative, is promising, proper guidelines need to be in place for the product to take off.

Khazanah Nasional has raised MR1.2bn ($295.3m) after offloading a chunk of shares in Malaysian utility company Tenaga Nasional.

Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional threw open Asia’s equity-linked market this week, issuing a $398.8m exchangeable sukuk to much fanfare. The deal has revived Khazanah’s presence in the market and comes two years after it struggled to pull off a similar transaction. Jonathan Breen reports.

The Indian government has picked three banks to work on its 15% sell down in construction firm NBCC, according to sources.

Sukuk stepped into the spotlight after JP Morgan decided to include Islamic bonds in its EM bond indices, but while eligibility will give the asset class a boost, it will be a while before the product is more broadly used.

In this round-up, CIMB signs a custodian deal with China Construction Bank to facilitate investments into China, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) plans membership expansion and the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) starts publishing daily exchange rates for the RMB against the British pound, euro and Japanese yen. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s top stories this week.

Doosan Bobcat is expected to start gauging sentiment for its $1bn-$2bn IPO in South Korea immediately after the securities registration statement is filed on September 8, according to bankers on the deal.

Sime Darby is planning an overnight share sale that could raise up to MR2.38bn ($595.85m) as the Malaysian property to palm oil conglomerate looks to pare down its debt load.

CME Group has reported the first trading of its US dollar Malaysian crude palm oil futures contracts it launched last month.