HSBC opens door for Chinese banks with London bond sale

　　HSBC, the international bank, yesterday raised Rmb2bn ($300m) in London in the first renminbi bond issue outside China and Hong Kong.

　　汇丰(HSBC)这家跨国银行昨日在伦敦发债融资20亿元人民币（合3亿美元），这是首只在中国内地和香港以外发行的人民币债券。

　　The move marks a step forward in the development of China’s capital markets, in the internationalisation of the renminbi, and in the UK’s efforts to expand its financial links with the world’s largest emerging market.

　　无论是就中国资本市场的发展、人民币的国际化而言，还是就英国扩大与全球最大新兴市场的金融联系的努力而言，此举都标志着前进的一步。

　　HSBC sold the three-year renminbi instruments – known as dim sum bonds – at 3 per cent in a deal that is widely expected to pave the way for other issuers, including Chinese banks.

　　汇丰以3%的利率发售了有“点心债券”之称的三年期债务工具。各方普遍预期，此举将为包括中资银行在内的其他发行方铺平道路。

　　The funds will be used to finance the bank’s expanding renminbi-based assets.

　　此次发债所得将用于为汇丰不断扩大的人民币资产提供资金。

　　Jean-Marc Mercier, global head of debt syndication, said that the bank, which had originally planned to raise Rmb1bn-plus, had been pleasantly surprised by the strength of demand from European investors, including fund managers, private banks and institutions.

　　汇丰债务银团业务全球主管让-马克•梅西埃(Jean-Marc Mercier)表示，该行最初计划融资10亿元人民币多一点，但后来惊喜地发现，欧洲投资者（包括基金管理公司、私人银行和机构）对此有着强劲的需求。

　　He indicated that European investors were taking up around 60 per cent of the issue, with most of the remaining 40 per cent going to Asia.

　　他介绍说，欧洲投资者买下了大约60%的债券，其余40%多数被亚洲买家买下。

　　The planned issue comes amid a welter of announcements from Beijing on the push to liberalise China’s financial markets and internationalise the renminbi. On Monday, the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, widened the renminbi’s trading band to 1 per cent from 0.5 per cent.

　　汇丰在英发行人民币债券之际，北京方面近期在放开中国金融市场和推进人民币国际化方面宣布了不少措施。周一，中国央行将人民币兑美元交易价的浮动幅度从0.5%扩大至1%。

　　London is competing with Singapore and other international financial hubs to establish itself as an offshore trading centre for renminbi after an agreement last year between the UK and China.

　　去年英国与中国达成相关协议后，伦敦正与新加坡和其他国际金融中心展开竞争，力求成为人民币离岸交易中心之一。

　　But there is still a long way to go in developing renminbi-based finance in London. According to the City of London Corporation, customer and interbank renminbi deposits in London totalled Rmb109bn at the end of 2011. That’s a fraction of Hong Kong’s Rmb566bn. Meanwhile, The Hong Kong dim sum market is growing fast, with issues almost tripling to Rmb50.7bn in the first quarter of this year from Rmb18.6bn a year earlier, according to Bloomberg. In 2011, HSBC was the dim sum market leader, followed by Standard Chartered Bank.

　　但是，要在伦敦发展人民币金融，还有很长一段路要走。根据伦敦金融城管理当局(City of London Corporation)的数据，2011年底伦敦的客户及银行间人民币存款总额达到1090亿元人民币。与香港的5660亿元人民币相比，这是一个小数目。与此同时，香港的“点心债券”市场正在快速增长，根据彭博(Bloomberg)的数据，该市场今年首季度发债总额达到507亿元人民币，几乎是去年同期186亿元人民币的三倍。2011年，汇丰是“点心债券”市场的领先发行方，其次是渣打银行(Standard Chartered Bank)。

　　Until recently many investors saw renminbi-appreciation as a one-way bet. But Beijing has this month signalled that it wants a pause in the currency’s rise, perhaps to give exporters a bit of breathing space.

　　直到不久以前，许多投资者还认为，押注人民币升值是稳赚不赔的买卖。但北京方面本月发出信号表示，它希望人民币暂停走高，这也许是为了让中国出口企业得到一定喘息空间。