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- Mr SHI Yaobin, Vice Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Finance and Harriett Baldwin MP, Economic Secretary to the UK Treasury open London trading
- Landmark listing of RMB 3 billion (£300 million) bond underlines increasingly strong financial ties between China and London
- London Stock Exchange established as world’s leading venue for RMB denominated bonds
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) today welcomed Mr SHI Yaobin, Vice Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Finance and Harriett Baldwin MP, Economic Secretary to the UK Treasury to open trading celebrating the listing of the first Chinese sovereign RMB bond to be issued outside of China. They were joined by Stuart Gulliver, Group CEO, HSBC and Gao Yingxin, Chairman of Bank of China UK, whose organisations helped bring the bond issuance to London.
The listing, a world first, brings to the forefront the rapid development of strong financial links between London and China. This year alone over 50 RMB denominated bonds have been listed in London - more than any other financial centre outside Greater China.
Donald Brydon, Chairman, London Stock Exchange Group said:
“We are honoured to be joined by Mr SHI Yaobin at today’s market open ceremony and honoured too that China has selected London Stock Exchange as its venue for its first ever sovereign RMB bond to be listed outside Greater China. London Stock Exchange Group and the City as a whole are committed to be leading partners in the internationalisation of China's capital markets.”
Gao Yingxin, Executive Vice President, Bank of China
“It is a great honour for Bank of China (UK) Limited to take part in this historic transaction. As China’s most internationalized banking group with 87 years’ operation in the UK, Bank of China will continue to devote our full resources to facilitate and strengthen the economic and financial links between our two countries.”
Harriett Baldwin, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said:
“I'm delighted that China’s Ministry of Finance has chosen London as the location to issue a sovereign RMB bond – the first issued outside China.
This issuance cements London’s position as the leading western RMB hub, and reinforces the UK’s ever-strengthening economic and financial relationship with China.”
The bond’s listing comes as London has established itself as the leading offshore venue for RMB capital raising. The last year alone has seen important milestones reached in developing the China-London relationship including:
- People’s Bank of China issued RMB 5 billion of short-term central bank notes in London – the first time it has done so outside China
- Bank of England and the People’s Bank of China agreed an increased swap line of RMB 350 billion
- Agricultural Bank of China listed $1billion dual currency green bonds in London, including a 600 million RMB-denominated tranche. This was the first international green bond issuance by a Chinese bank
- China’s four major banks and China Development Bank have all listed bonds on London Stock Exchange
- In the first 5 months of 2016, we have seen 53 RMB bonds be issued on our markets, of 80 issued worldwide. These come from a wide range of issuers in terms of geography as well as international institutions and sovereigns
- The listing of the first ETF on our market to track the performance of the 50 largest China A-share companies while capturing price differentials between dual listed constituents mainland A-shares and Hong Kong H-shares
