Citi to deliver a full platform of RMB capabilities

08 Sep 2010
       

Citi to deliver a full platform of RMB capabilities    

 

The Renminbi internationalization journey has been one of the hottest topics in trade settlement of late. The People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) started a gradual and controlled liberalization of the currency about 12 months ago with a series of announcements designated to develop a vibrant offshore RMB market and most recently in July, PBOC accelerated its expansion with an agreement with the Hong Kong Monetary Association to designate Hong Kong as an offshore RMB clearing center.

 

What does this mean to Citi and our clients?  The Global Transaction Services team hosted 20 key regional and local media in Hong Kong last Friday, September 3, and provided a perspective of the RMB internationalization journey and its off and onshore opportunities.

 

In his opening address, Asia Pacific Head of Global Transaction Services Anthony Nappi said that as the journey of RMB evolves, Citi will be at the forefront with insightful financial advice for clients and corporations.

 

“GTS is leading an Asia-wide ICG taskforce together with colleagues in Markets, Global Banking and CMO to ensure that we deliver a full platform of RMB capabilities to all our clients across the franchise,” said Anthony.

 

Hosting the media briefing with Anthony were Sridhar Kanthadai, Regional Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions; Philippe Jaccard, Regional Head of Liquidity and Investments; Carmen Ling, Head of GTS Hong Kong; Alan Lin, Head of GTS China; Terence Ng, Deputy Head of GTS Hong Kong as well as Kuldeep Singh, Head of Markets Hong Kong and Tommy Lam, Head of Corporate Sales and Structuring Hong Kong.

 

In his presentation on the overview of the RMB liberalization, Philippe Jaccard explained that many treasury centers of multinational companies are based in the Mainland and increasingly more Chinese companies are leveraging their lower cost base and strong liquidity to expand overseas.

 

"With the liberalization of the regulatory environment, there is greater flexibility for managing domestic and foreign currency financial activities in China, a trend that we expect to continue as RMB takes its place as a global currency," he added.

 

Carmen Ling highlighted some recent transactions where Citi was able to use its extensive network to match clients’ needs.

 

“We have the ability to work closely with our clients to match their funding needs, and our network and client base provide Citi the advantage in truly “internationalizing” such a currency,” said Carmen.

 

Citi’s range of RMB product and service capabilities include deposit services, liquidity management solutions, trade finance and settlement service, remittances, FX (spot and forward) and RMB hedging and yield enhancement solutions.

 

“We are very excited with the role Citi is playing in the RMB’s internationalization journey,” Anthony concluded after an interactive and lively discussion with the group of journalists.