For all the desire of market participants to get China’s Panda bond market going, there has been little to talk about over the years. To date, these renminbi-denominated bonds from non-Chinese issuers in the PRC have been slow off the mark. Panda bonds date back to 2005, when International Finance Corporation and the Asian Development Bank became the first issuers. Each bond was for 10 years, with IFC’s Rmb1.13bn (US$182m) at 3.4% and the ADB’s Rmb1bn at 3.34%. The offerings were greeted with so

Ample liquidity and buoyant investor sentiment have sent China’s stock markets to their highest levels since the initial stages of the financial crisis in early 2008. The sustained rally is encouraging more companies to sell shares locally rather than in Hong Kong or the US, even at the expense of artificially low IPO prices. Beijing Baofeng Technology, the first internet company to remove a Variable Interest Entity (VIE) structure to list domestically, provides a vivid example of why the A-shar

With the issuance of Dim Sum bonds all but collapsing earlier this year, Taiwan’s Formosa market has emerged as a fast-growing source of renminbi financings. The amounts raised were relatively modest, but the trail of deals caught the attention of bankers and international issuers, while the rest of the offshore renminbi market struggled. There were whispers that Taiwan, though a long way behind, could emerge as a strong challenger to Hong Kong’s dominance of Dim Sum issuance. The prospects for

It has been a tough start to the year for Dim Sum bonds. Unfavourable forex moves and illiquidity have silenced what had once been an exciting and growing market. After setting a record in 2014, when Dim Sum issuance hit Rmb324bn (USD52.2bn), the market screeched to a halt in the first quarter of 2015. February was emblematically dire with issuance totalling just Rmb4.3bn, down from Rmb17.8bn in the same month last year, according to data from Thomson Reuters. Yet, beneath the doom and gloom, Di

China’s muddled thinking over the rising level of debt trapped within its financial system was thrown into stark relief due to two interlinked events in the last two weeks of April. First came a long-expected announcement that still held an element of surprise: a state-owned enterprise was finally being allowed to default on its debt. Power equipment manufacturer Baoding Tianwei Group, a unit of a leading military contractor, missed an interest payment of Rmb85.5m ($13.8m) due on bonds of Rmb1.5

Now that the highly anticipated Greater China cross-border link has started to gain traction, market participants around the globe are angling to step in and encourage authorities to incorporate into the platform other bourses, such as that in Shenzhen, as well as more asset classes like bonds. Trying to make Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect work for multiple markets and classes of investors will pose many challenges for regulators. Nonetheless, the scheme has proved to be a solid initial step s

China’s currency is no longer a fledgling tender. For better or worse, the renminbi will define the 21st Century, just as the US dollar and pound sterling embodied the two that preceded it. Yet, many questions remain unanswered. How fast is it growing? What are the obstacles holding it back, and the incentives fostering its development? Also, what does Beijing really want its increasingly global currency to become? So far, it has been surprisingly smooth sailing. The turbulence that typically ac

Hype is returning to the renminbi capital markets. After a few lacklustre years for Chinese equities, Shanghai and Hong Kong are on their biggest bull runs in years, while interest rate cuts have lifted interest in renminbi bonds. Bears have been squeezed out and the global consensus now says that China can avoid a disastrous slump as it rebalances its economy on a more sustainable footing. Usage of the Chinese unit jumped in 2014, making the renminbi the fifth-biggest currency for global paymen