Northeast Asia

The upcoming issuance of bills by the People’s Bank of China will improve management of offshore RMB (CNH) liquidity, but unless they come regularly and across tenors they may not help establish a dim sum yield curve.

S&P confirmed China’s rating due to positive policy moves, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said renminbi deposits in Hong Kong are on the upswing, and payment infrastructure provider Swift says RMB keeps the fifth position as a global payment currency.

The two largest equity index providers put A-shares in the spotlight this week, with FTSE Russell announcing it would begin including the stock in its emerging markets index from June 2019, and MSCI launching a consultation on granting A-shares a greater share of its EM indices.

China Life Insurance Co is planning a return to the offshore bond market for capital after a drop in its core solvency ratio, while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is seeking shareholders’ blessing for a Basel III additional tier one (AT1) deal.

Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group is looking to spin off its biotechnology unit through a Hong Kong IPO.

In this third part of the GlobalRMB awards, we present our reasons for choosing the best issuers in the FIG, corporate and SSA categories — and praise the strong performance of one well-known foreign law firm.

In the final article on our GlobalRMB awards, we talk about the key innovation of the year and highlight the individual that has made the greatest contribution to the development of China’s cross-border capital markets.

China’s Dafa Properties Group has hit the road for its Hong Kong IPO, looking to pocket up to HK$996m ($127.3m).

There is not enough flash in the markets anymore. After a whole generation of Silicon Valley geniuses made billions while dressed like stoned teenagers, style and panache seem to have taken a back seat. Thank heavens for the old guard.

Cryptocurrency mining company Bitmain Technologies Holding Co has joined a growing number of companies from the sector aiming for a Hong Kong IPO.

Qinghai Provincial Investment Group Co successfully redeemed its $300m bond this week, giving a boost to its entire secondary curve and ending months of speculation about a possible default. But its debt-related troubles are not over just yet, writes Addison Gong.

The People’s Bank of China has made long-awaited changes to its Panda bond guidelines, offering clarity to issuers that had previously been forced to deal with ambiguity and confusion. But bankers say the changes do not go far enough. Rebecca Feng reports.