Deputy Governor of the PBOC Hu Xiaolian and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England John Cunliffe shake hands after signing the MoU on renminbi clearing and settlement in London in March 2014. (Photo : Getty Images)
Despite concerns over Brexit, the activities of offshore yuan in London remain strong and active as latest figures from China's Central Bank showed.
China Daily reported that new figures from the bank showed that the use of renminbi in business transactions have increased by 60 percent in August compared to July figures, which indicated the growing business confidence between the two countries and the rising international use of the Chinese currency.
Jin Mei, the People's Bank of China's chief representative in Europe, made the announcement of the new data during a celebration hosted by China Construction Bank (CCB), London's renminbi clearing bank.
According to the report, the clearing bank had just celebrated the clearing of 10 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion) of transactions, considered an important milestone for the bank since the time it was assigned by PBOC to be the official renminbi clearing bank in London, from June 2014 to August 2016.
The official clearing bank helps in clearing offshore renminbi transactions, in coordination with the central bank.
London became the world's second-largest offshore renminbi center, next to Hong Kong, after it surpassed Singapore in April.
According to Wang Zuji, president of CCB Corp, CCB London was able to achieve its goal to provide "fair, efficient, accurate and professional clearing services", and helped develop Sino-British economic ties as well as contributed to transform London to become an important offshore renminbi center.
Yuan clearing services are provided by CCB London from 1 a.m. to 9 p.m. London Time to be able to cover the trading hour difference between North American and Asian markets.
Although it provides clearing inquiry services for 24 hours, about 95 percent of yuan clearing services in London are completed automatically by its clearing systems.
CCB London serves about 67 financial institutions, 24 of these are Chinese organizations, which it said ia part of its international clients.
Some of its prominent clients are international banks which include HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citibank and Bank of America, and other financial institutions such as the London Stock Exchange, London Metals Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
The increasing use of the renminbi as an international currency in trade and investment comes as London's offshore yuan activities grow, which will be marked by the inclusion of the yuan in the International Monetary Fund's basket of special drawing rights (SDR) currencies in October.
The SDR inclusion will provide yuan with new opportunities in the London offshore RMB market and the internationalization of the currency, with the support of the PBOC, Jin said.
