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Success of RMB internationalization reflected in payments figures

(Xinhua)    07:13, August 28, 2014
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New figures from Swift RMB tracker show that RMB payments through London have increased by 123 percent in just one year.

The latest statistics reflect the flowerings of the policy of the Chinese government, embraced by policy makers and officials in Britain, to promote the growth of RMB as an international currency.

The growth of RMB in international trade plays into the strengths of the London financial center, which is the world’s leading center for foreign exchange (forex).

RMB IN LONDON

In October 2013 London was granted an 80 billion RMB (about 13 billion U.S. dollars) quota under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program, which opened the large interbank bond market to UK investors. This made Britain the first country outside Asia to gain this status.

There had already been substantial increases in RMB transactions in London in the two years prior to 2013.

The City of London Corporation (CLC) figures released in June 2014 showed that RMB forex transactions had grown rapidly.

In the first half of 2013 figures almost doubled the amount in the whole of 2012.

Over the whole year there was a 140 percent increase over 2012, with an average daily value of 18.7 billion U.S. dollars on trading in deliverable products, which overtook non-deliverable in the majority market share for the first time as result of greater RMB liquidity.

A similar development was observed in spot trading with a 123 percent year-on-year increase to a daily value of 5.6 billion dollars. As a whole, RMB forex trading in London reached 25.3 billion dollars per day, up by 50 percent on 2012.

In addition trade financing with RMB had increased threefold in the first half of 2013 compared to the whole of 2011, and the full year figures for 2013 showed a 10 percent increase on the 2012 figures, totalling nearly 43 billion RMB.

In early 2014 the BOC sold 2.5 billion RMB worth of bonds in London, the biggest issue in RMB in London, which is also the world’s major bond trading center.

In March the British central bank, the Bank of England (BOE), agreed clearing and settlement arrangements for a RMB clearing bank to be based in London.

In June it was announced by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) that the clearing bank would be China Construction Bank (CCB), the first clearing house for RMB outside Asia.

INTERNATIONAL PHENOMENON

The success of the policy is not just a bilateral achievement, it is also seen in figures for other European financial hubs.

The RMB accounted for 8.7 percent of trade finance in 2013, up from 1.9 percent at the end of 2011.

The growth of the market, also means there is competition between European financial centers for RMB business.

Germany won the race to be the first European country to get permission for a RMB clearing bank, with agreement reached between the PBOC and the Bundesbank on March 27. The Bank of China (BOC) was appointed as clearing bank on June 19.

Germany’s RMB has increased by 116 percent over the July 2013 to July 2014 period.

Other European financial centers have also seen large increases, with France up 43.6 percent and Luxembourg up 41.9 percent.

Mark Boleat, City of London Corporation policy chairman where much of Britain’s financial and banking industry is located, commented on the latest figures Wednesday, saying they were “encouraging”.

He said they demonstrated “the adoption of RMB worldwide and the steady growth of offshore RMB business in Europe, with the UK figures highlighting the continued interest from corporates in making using of the UK’s diverse range of RMB products and services.”

WORLD PAYMENT CURRENCY

As a world payment currency RMB had 0.63 percent of transactions in January 2013, but in July this year that figure had risen to 1.57 percent.

Michael Moon, Head of Payments and RMB, Asia Pacific at SWIFT said, “Over the past year, Chinese authorities and financial institutions announced new partnerships with European countries, making them official clearing centres for the RMB.”

He added, “These announcements have boosted the RMB trading activities in these countries. After the United Kingdom and Germany, we may see similar trends happening in France, Luxembourg and even Switzerland. Announced in July, the bilateral currency swap agreement between the PBOC and the Swiss National Bank could put Switzerland in line to become a new RMB hub in Europe.”

Boleat commented on the international aspect of RMB internationalization policy, “There remains much potential for growth in RMB usage in the UK, as well as in other financial centers in Europe such as Frankfurt and Paris.”

Boleat continued, “The current RMB market figures are impressive, but more remains to be done, such as enhancing liquidity of the offshore RMB market and developing further products and services, to meet increasing demand from corporates in both Europe and Asia.” (1 U.S. dollar = 6.14 RMB)

(Editor:Wu Yanping、Bianji)
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