ENG-2016 — Page 93

Hong Kong Year Books 香港年報 All

Chart 4

1,400

1,200

No. of companies

4

Financial and Monetary Affairs

Number of Asset Management Companies

1,340

1,000

1,177

1,074

800

935

995

600

400

200

0

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Year

Global Offshore RMB Business Hub and Foreign Exchange Centre

The Renminbi (RMB) is increasingly used in cross-border transactions, investment, financing and asset management amid further internationalisation of the currency and opening up of the Mainland financial markets. Hong Kong continues to be the global offshore RMB business hub, complementing its position as a major global foreign exchange centre.

In 2016, the city's ranking in the global forex market turnover rose to fourth from fifth in the Bank for International Settlements' previous Triennial Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Turnover, conducted in April 2013. Turnover in the Hong Kong market jumped 58.9 per cent to US$437 billion between April 2013 and April 2016 even as average daily forex turnover fell 5 per cent globally. In particular, average daily turnover of RMB forex transactions in Hong Kong reached US$77 billion in 2016, 55.8 per cent higher than in 2013.

As the global offshore RMB business hub, Hong Kong offers a wide range of RMB-denominated investment products, including listed and unlisted investment funds, insurance products, currency futures, real estate investment trusts, shares and derivatives products. With the world's largest pool of offshore RMB funds, the city has ample capacity to allow international investors and enterprises to conduct transactions in RMB. At the end of 2016, total RMB deposits, including customer deposits and outstanding certificates of deposit, stood at RMB625.1 billion.

In the National 13th Five-Year Plan promulgated in March 2016, the Central People's Government affirmed Hong Kong's status as the global offshore RMB business hub and its support for Hong Kong to enhance that status.

Chart 5

500

400

300

Average Daily Foreign Exchange Turnover in Hong Kong

437

US$ billion

200

100

O

275

238

181

106

2004

2007

2010

2013

2016

Year

59

Comments

Approved members can add comments, bookmarks, and private notes.

No comments yet.

Private Research Note

Private notes are available after approval.