London pushes ahead with yuan ambitions

A slower yuan appreciation might dampen investors' interest in the currency but would not affect London's ambitious plans to develop itself as a leading offshore yuan centre.

Mark Boleat, chairman of the policy and resources committee of the City of London, said the local government would continue to promote the use of yuan by domestic companies and investors.

"London is the world's largest foreign-exchange trading centre. We would definitely want to see sufficient liquidity of RMB here so that people doing business with China can easily buy or sell the currency here to settle trade with their Chinese trading partners," Boleat told the South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview in his Guildhall office in the heart of the city.

Britain has been among those most enthusiastically promoting the yuan business. In the past two years, several senior British government representatives have met mainland officials to discuss what role London could play in offshore yuan trading.

A working group formed by leading Hong Kong and British banks, including HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China, was set up in January to iron out the technical issues involved in promoting the yuan business in Hong Kong and London.

"More such meetings will be held [this month], which will be attended by senior ministers. This shows the UK government fully supports London's goal to be an offshore RMB trading centre," Boleat said.