LONDON, Dec. 19 -- The offshore RMB, or Chinese yuan, market in London has developed further during the first half of 2013 with rapid growth of business in RMB products and services, said the City of London Corporation on Thursday.

According to a report due to be published for the City of London by Bourse Consult, steady growth has been seen in trade-related services during the first half of this year with a particularly high level of growth in volumes of letters of credit, which reached a total of 3.3 billion yuan (about 544 million U.S. dollars).

In this period, a number of major banks have experienced an increase in requests from a growing number of banking customers to make trade payments in RMB, said the report.

The RMB foreign exchange daily spot trading in the first half of 2013 almost doubled that of 2012, figures cited by the City of London showed.

The first half of 2013 also showed a rise in RMB deposits to 14.5 billion yuan.

"The growth in activity illustrates increased investor confidence and the growing diversity and sophistication of the London market," said Sajid Javid, Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Mark Boleat, Policy Chairman at the City of London Corporation, commented: "The comprehensive deepening of reform across the Chinese financial markets is paving the way for further RMB internationalization."