RMB investments now part of official foreign reserves: MAS

There is growing international acceptance of the RMB.

Renminbi financial investments will be included in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) official foreign reserves (OFR) from June 2016 onwards. The move is on back of the steady and calibrated liberalisation of China’s financial markets and the growing acceptance of RMB assets in the global portfolio of institutional investors.

The central bank said in a statement that it has been making RMB financial investments through China’s Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor and interbank bond market schemes since 2012, but it was not possible to include these investments in OFR as there were previously restrictions on the repatriation of these funds.

China has also significantly liberalised access to its foreign exchange and securities markets for foreign institutional investors over the past year.

For instance, access to China’s interbank bond market was granted to most foreign institutional investors, and investment quotas were eliminated.

Restrictions on inbound and outbound remittances have been lifted and no prior approval is now required for the repatriation of funds invested in China’s interbank bond market.