Showcasing Hong Kong Offshore Renminbi Business Centre in Spain

Mr Norman Chan, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) chaired a seminar entitled “Trade and Investment in Renminbi: A New Era” in Madrid yesterday (Monday).  This was the fourth overseas roadshow conducted by the HKMA this year to promote Hong Kong as the offshore renminbi business centre.  The seminar attracted almost 200 participants from government agencies, financial institutions and corporates in Spain and other parts of Europe.

Speaking at the seminar, Mr Norman Chan said, “With the growth of advanced economies becoming more subdued, emerging market economies particularly China will be the major sources of growth for the global economy in the next few years.  Under this trend, there is a strong business case for the US and European corporates to go East and seek to enhance trade and investment links with China proactively, while at the same time capturing the new opportunities brought about by the internationalisation of the renminbi.”

Mr Norman Chan also said, “In the past year or so, the internationalisation of the renminbi has been progressing well.  The share of China’s external trade settled in renminbi increased from only 0.7% in the first half of 2010 to 4% in the second half of the year, and further to 9% in the first half of 2011.  And among China’s renminbi trade settlement transactions, some 80% are handled by banks in Hong Kong.  For the first eight months of 2011, renminbi trade settlement transactions handled by banks in Hong Kong amounted to over RMB 1 trillion yuan.  Moreover, Hong Kong is also the largest offshore renminbi market, with renminbi deposits reaching RMB 609 billion yuan at end-August, and issuance of renminbi “dim-sum” bonds exceeding RMB 85 billion yuan for the first nine months of this year.  Hong Kong’s renminbi business platform offers a full range of renminbi services, from banking to financing and wealth management, and is able to provide the best support for Spanish and other European corporates and financial institutions to conduct renminbi businesses.”

Co-organising the seminar, Banco Santander’s Member of the Board and Senior Executive Vice President of the Strategy and Asia Division, Mr Juan Rodriguez Inciarte, remarked that, “The world is going through a gradual move from a dollar-based system towards a multi-currency monetary system that will reflect more properly the reality of the global economy.  And the renminbi is certainly called to play key role in this evolution.”

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
18 October 2011

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Photo caption: Mr Norman Chan speaks at the seminar.

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Photo caption: Mr Norman Chan leads a panel discussion comprising, from left to right, Francisco Caballero, Partner, Garrigues; Matthew Hosford, Managing Director, Chief Risk Office, Asia-Pacific, Banco Santander, S.A.; and Han Baoxing, Deputy Director General, Managing Director of Treasury & Financial Markets Development, China Development Bank.

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Photo caption: The seminar attracts almost 200 participants from government agencies, financial institutions and corporates in Spain and other parts of Europe.