Singapore has vaulted ahead of London as the world’s biggest offshore trading hub for the renminbi outside Hong Kong, as rapidly growing commercial ties between China and southeast Asia propel use of the Chinese currency.
The development highlights not only the rapid internationalisation of the renminbi but how financial centres in Europe and Asia are jostling for a slice of the business.
London has become the main city outside Asia for dealing in the Chinese currency, with a series of initiatives undertaken since George Osborne, UK finance minister, two years ago moved to help the UK capital become a trading centre for renminbi and the staging post for Chinese investment into Europe.