Southeast Asia

Korea Development Bank (KDB) made a rare venture into Singapore dollars, pricing a S$200m ($146.8m) three year bond. The deal was not only KDB’s biggest deal in the currency, but it was also the largest issue by a Korean name.

Reinsurance company Swiss Re has received the first RMB qualified foreign institutional investor licence in Switzerland. Meanwhile, Singapore-based UOB Asset Management has told GlobalRMB that it will launch three new RQFII products before the end of 2015.

In this round-up, Singapore deposits fell in the first quarter this year, Taiwan RMB deposits rose to a new record, Bank of China joined the new gold benchmark, and the first overseas inverse ETF shorting A-shares entered the market.

Singapore-based UOB has established a cross-border team focusing on its clients' RMB solutions needs, the bank said on June 17.

Khazanah Nasional took a huge step forward for socially responsible investment (SRI) in Malaysia this month with the country’s first sukuk in the sector, adopting a unique structure that could see investors’ pay-out reduced. It is a bold move for social reform, but Khazanah’s SRI sukuk may be a bit too ahead of its time.

In this round-up, Hong Kong deposits rose in April, but cross-border RMB trade settlement fell, Macau announced its March deposit figures, ICBC opened two new offshore branches in Montreal and Riyadh, RMB clearing in South Korea has reached a daily average of Rmb25bn, and Japanese bank MUFG helped Brazilian clients settle trade with China in RMB.

The renminbi is finding support from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around Asia, according to a new survey by consulting firm East & Partners.

In this round-up, Macau RMB deposits and cross-border RMB trade settlement fall in February, ICBC launches RMB clearing in Thailand, the Shanghai FTZ expands four-fold, and Kenya hopes to become the RMB hub in Africa.

In this round-up, Malaysia and China renew their bilateral swap agreement, Thailand launches RMB clearing services, and the Silk Road Fund makes its first investment into Pakistan.

In this round up, China cross-border RMB trade settlement hits new historical record in March, Hong Kong sees a 31% increase in RMB clearing in the same month, the Moscow Exchange sees record RMB/RUB FX swaps turnover, CCB is launching new subsidiaries in five overseas markets, and RMB clearing officially launches in Malaysia and Qatar.

As the first Thai bank enters the offshore RMB bond market, Thai regulators are keen to attract Chinese corporates to its capital markets.

TMB Bank priced the first dim sum bond out of Thailand on March 2, raising Rmb600m ($97m) with a three year offering.