Zhu Yinan, a senior associate at the international law firm Clifford Chance, said a new yuan payment system being developed by the People's Bank of China that might be introduced in two years means London may not need its own clearing system at all, because the new arrangement may lead to 24-hour trading of the yuan with direct links between global banks and the central bank.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group estimated that yuan deposits may reach 100 billion yuan in Taiwan, 250 billion yuan in Singapore and 700 billion yuan in Hong Kong by the end of the year.
Yuan deposits in Hong Kong rose 5.6 percent in December to 603 billion yuan, an 18-fold jump from five years ago, while Taiwan banks held 1.3 billion yuan of deposits on Feb 6, when clearing of the currency started. As of June, the pool of yuan deposits in Singapore reached 60 billion yuan.
At 75, he travelled in Europe; at 98, he got a master's degree; at 102, he published an autobiography.