The groundbreaking Euromoney Offshore RMB Funding Forum was a resounding success. 700 delegates, including senior funding officials and institutional investors from more than 18 countries around the globe, attended the event.

Julia Leung, Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury for the Government of Hong Kong SAR, opened the forum with an informative speech highlighting the role of Hong Kong as an offshore RMB centre.

She was followed by Shi Wenchao, the Secretary General and Executive Vice President for the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII), who gave a speech on the benefits of an offshore renminbi market to both the Mainland and Hong Kong.

Over the course of the day, funding officials shared numerous reasons, including favorable pricing and a real need for renminbi, for their interest in offshore renminbi (CNH) funding. Investors, meanwhile, voiced their enthusiasm for CNH paper, with reasons including expected currency appreciation, scarcity value and exposure to credits not available in any other currencies.

The forum closed with a panel discussion on the internationalisation of the renminbi, and a vote by the audience on whether they thought the renminbi would be fully convertible in five years. An overwhelming majority of the crowd voted that the renminbi would not be convertible in five years which surprised the economists on the panel who were more bullish on the matter.

Euromoney would like to thank the sponsors, speakers and delegates for their support. We will look forward to next year’s forum to reassess the continuing development of the offshore renminbi bond market in Hong Kong.

For further information on sponsoring or speaking at this forum for 2012, please contact Alex Pang by e-mail at alexander.pang@euromoneyasia.com or by telephone at +852 2842 6991.