Great power shifts are accompanied by changes in the global reserve currency. The City of London has survived as a financial centre by virtue of its ability to navigate such shifts.
It has not escaped London’s financiers that China has been growing in importance as part of the world’s monetary system since it decided in 2010 to broaden the use of the renminbi among international investors. The first steps have been taken using Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, as an offshore base. But the broader international market remains up for grabs – not least because it has yet to be created.
In Hong Kong this week, George Osborne staked a claim for the City to a slice of this putative market. Much of what the chancellor of the exchequer said was, frankly, smoke and mirrors. He made a great deal out of some technical agreements with the Hong Kong authorities to investigate clearing and settlement systems, and to develop new products denominated in renminbi. Mr Osborne was similarly hyperbolic about the Hong Kong’s decision to extend renminbi settlement hours to encompass the London trading day.