The renminbi (RMB) joining the SDR basket of elite currencies is the latest breakthrough in the internationalisation of the Chinese currency. Here we look back at past milestones. February, 2004: Hong Kong banks begin providing personal yuan services, including deposit, remittance, exchange and credit card services July, 2005: Beijing abolishes the yuan’s peg to the US dollar, and kicks off a float era, allowing the yuan to trade within a band around a mid price set every morning by the People’s Bank of China June, 2009: HKMA and PBOC sign an agreement to allow trade between Hong Kong and the mainland to be settled in yuan in five cities June, 2010: Cross-border yuan settlement scheme expands to 20 provinces and cities July, 2010: Hopewell Highway Infrastructure issues first yuan corporate bond in Hong Kong, raising one billion yuan August, 2010: PBOC allows yuan clearing banks to trade directly in mainland interbank market January, 2011: PBOC announces pilot scheme for mainland companies to settle overseas direct investments in yuan April, 2011: First yuan IPO in Hong Kong with the listing of Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust, a spin-off of Li Ka-shing’s Beijing Oriental Plaza August, 2011: Overseas firms able to use yuan to settle foreign direct investments in China instead of the US dollar January, 2012: Hong Kong signs agreement with City of London to develop offshore yuan trading centre June, 2012: China green-lights direct trading of yuan and Japanese yen in Tokyo and Shanghai October, 2012: Hong Kong’s SFC approves the first dual-currency exchange-traded fund January, 2013: PBOC appoints Bank of China’s Taipei branch as yuan clearing bank for Taiwan. First cross-border yuan loans authorised with 15 banks in Hong Kong permitted to offer a combined 2 billion yuan in loans to companies in Qianhai February, 2013: Beijing names Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) as clearing bank for offshore yuan business in Singapore April, 2013: Direct trading starts between the yuan and the Australian dollar June, 2013: PBOC and Bank of England agree to a three-year currency swap line of up to 200 billion yuan. Hong Kong launches the world’s first offshore yuan interbank rate fixing September, 2013: Shanghai designates a free-trade zone to have freer convertibility of yuan November, 2014: Daily exchange cap of 20,000 yuan a day removed ahead of the launch of the stock connect scheme to tie Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets, allowing retail investors to conduct cross-border trading in yuan up to 550 billion yuan July, 2015: Launch of the mutual fund recognition scheme up to a total of 600 billion yuan August, 2015: PBOC unveils one-off devaluation of the yuan by 2 per cent and changes to the mid-point price setting mechanism October, 2015: PBOC launches the first phase of China International Payment System and allows certain foreign banks to trade in mainland bond market November, 2015: State Council pledges to make the onshore yuan freely tradeable by 2020 December, 2015: IMF says it will include the yuan in its Special Drawing Right currency reserve basket February, 2016: China Interbank Bond Market scheme announced, allowing foreign institutions to trade bonds directly through Chinese banks holding a type A licence August, 2016: World Bank approved as the first SDR bond issuer in China October, 2016: Renminbi joins IMF SDR as the fifth reserve currency in the elite club, alongside the US dollar, euro, sterling pound and yen