Singapore

Commodities trader Vitol Asia has hit the market for a one year extension to a $1.48bn borrowing sealed in June 2015.

Law firm Clifford Chance has made several senior appointments in Asia Pacific in a bid to strengthen its businesses in the region.

China Construction Bank plans to begin trading derivatives and bonds in Singapore, having teamed up with Singapore Exchange to promote the island state’s capital markets to Chinese companies.

Natixis has named Alain Gallois as CEO of corporate and investment banking for Asia Pacific, a position he will take up in July.

The New Development Bank Brics (NDB) has appointed four Chinese banks and two internationals banks to work on a renminbi-denominated green bond to be sold to Chinese onshore buyers.

Manulife Financial is set to kick off bookbuilding for its Singapore-bound $500m real estate investment trust (Reit) IPO next week, if feedback from investor education is positive.

Veteran banker Ali Abbas Alam, co-head of the emerging markets financing group for Asia at Credit Suisse, is due to leave the lender after a 16 year spell.

Indonesian television broadcaster MNC Sky Vision has launched the senior syndication phase of its $275m two tranche borrowing.

DBS Group Holdings has completed its inaugural foray into Hong Kong’s bank capital market, selling a Basel III tier two trade last week. The move is part of the Singaporean lender's strategy to diversify its bank capital funding sources.

The European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) has appointed DBS's Colin Chen as the chairman of a new global working group for 2016-2019.

Manulife US Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) has tentative plans to start pre-marketing its Singapore listing from next week, according to sources close to the deal.

In this round-up, trade settlement picked up in March, Asian exchanges saw declining USDCNY futures volumes, Nigeria will include the RMB in its FX reserves, a survey found the RMB is likely to replace the Hong Kong dollar as most popular currency in HK, and a new cross-border scheme was established between Singapore and China. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB's top stories this week.