London - Hong Kong: building the offshore Rmb market
Hong Kong and London, two of the world’s leading financial centres, will join hands in further developing the offshore RMB market, writes UK Financial Secretary to the Treasury Greg Clark.
A leading global financial centre and a gateway to mainland China, Hong Kong is a natural home for development of the offshore RMB market. Hong Kong’s business environment commands the confidence of investors worldwide, whether from London, Lanzhou or Los Angeles. Over 50 per cent of UK investment in Asia is in or flows through Hong Kong. That is a tremendous vote of confidence in Hong Kong by UK companies.
So I am delighted that two of the world’s leading financial centres – London and Hong Kong – are choosing strategic areas to collaborate on, together connecting markets, getting liquidity flowing and growing the offshore RMB pool for businesses, traders and investors in China and overseas. At the Hong Kong/London RMB Forum, I will be joining the Deputy Chief Executive of the HKMA to explore with banks, corporates and investors the benefits and opportunities of settling trade in RMB, using RMB denominated products and services and the progress RMB is making as an investment currency.
My visit is the latest chapter in our sustained and substantial dialogue on financial, economic and trade developments. It follows visits to Hong Kong earlier this year by my colleagues Lord Deighton (UK Commercial Secretary to the Treasury) and Sajid Javid (UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury) and that of the Lord Mayor of the City of London earlier this week.
Through our meetings and conversations, we are pursuing new opportunities to promote trade and investment. The numbers speak for themselves: bilateral trade in goods between Hong Kong and the UK rose by 13.5 per cent between 2009 and 2012, to a total value of £12.1 billion in 2012. This makes Hong Kong the UK’s second biggest export market for goods in Asia Pacific.
On trade in services, I am determined to make the most of the relationships between the financial sectors in Hong Kong and Britain. The relative strengths and complementarities between our markets are clear: twice as many US dollars trade in the UK than the USA. Twice as many Euros trade in the UK as the Eurozone.