A new report published by the City of London Corporation and the People’s Bank of China Europe Representative Office shows that London continues to thrive as an offshore Renminbi (RMB) hub.

The 3rd London RMB Business Quarterly reveals that the average daily trading volume of Chinese currency in London in Q4 2018 was £76.6 billion, up 45 percent year-on-year.

Cross-border receipts and payments between China and the UK also saw growth, hitting approximately 29.9 billion RMB in February 2019, up around 50 percent when compared with the same month in 2018. The figures follow a near 110 percent rise in cross-border transactions as a whole between both countries in 2018.

The latest edition of the London RMB Business Quarterly also contains a detailed analysis of the onshore and offshore RMB markets, with the London Stock Exchange Group discussing London’s Dim Sum bond market. In February 2019, three RMB-denominated bonds were listed, bringing the total number to 113, worth some 32 billion RMB. The listings came in the wake of a bumper year for Dim Sum bonds in 2018, with more than 30 issuances throughout the whole of last year.

City of London Corporation Policy Chair, Catherine McGuinness said, “This report, which comes amidst unprecedented uncertainty in the UK economy, shows that the fundamentals of London remain strong, particularly in terms of foreign exchange.

“With trading volumes of RMB beating those of the pound against the euro late last year in London, it is obvious that investor appetite for the currency remains strong in the UK."

The first London RMB Business Quarterly was launched by the City of London Corporation and People’s Bank of China Europe Representative Office in September 2018. Backed by HM Treasury, the publication marked a continuation of the City Corporation’s influential Renminbi business initiative, a campaign which ran from 2012 to 2015 that helped London become the leading offshore RMB trading hub outside of Asia. (Tianxing Bai)