UK seeks major slice in offshore yuan market

HONG KONG - Agence France-Presse

Britain said yesterday it will partner with Hong Kong to develop the City of London as a major offshore center of trade in China’s currency, the yuan.

Finance Minister George Osborne said Britain and Hong Kong had agreed to launch a joint private-sector forum to enhance cooperation and support China’s efforts to develop the offshore yuan market.

Osborne told a meeting of Asian finance officials and executives in Hong Kong the intention was to “establish London as a new hub” for the yuan. “It’s clear that there is scope for the substantial expansion of the [yuan] market in the coming years,” he told the Asian Financial Forum in the southern Chinese banking center. “I think London is perfectly placed to act as a gateway for Asian investment and banking to Europe and as a bridge to the United States.”

Hong Kong is currently the only officially designated offshore yuan trading center, and is keen to expand the currency’s use in international transactions as an alternative to the U.S. dollar and the euro.
China and Britain agreed in September to work towards the development of an offshore yuan market in London.