With more and more Chinese firms pushing into Southeast Asia, Singapore has cemented its position as one of the world’s largest offshore Renminbi centres.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Singapore branch (ICBC Singapore) announced at a client seminar event in Singapore that as at end-July this year, Renminbi (RMB) clearing volumes have hit an accumulated total of RMB 170 trillion.
Singapore's influence as an offshore RMB centre had drifted with other financial hubs going after market share as finews.asia reported last year.
Centre of Gravity
However recent moves by Chinese conglomerates eyeing the largely untapped opportunities in the region along with the ever growing presence of mainland Chinese on-line payment platforms across Southeast Asia has seen the RMB centre of gravity swing back to the East.
«With the steady growth of RMB internationalisation and Belt and Road Initiative-related corporate activities, we continue to see a strong increase in demand for more RMB product diversification in Singapore,» said Hu Fang, general manager of ICBC Singapore.
