Hong Kong a model for building renminbi-denominated businesses

Taiwan can learn a lot about this from Hong Kong.

Taiwan’s former Finance Minister Christina Liu said Taiwan needs to accelerate its promotion of renminbi services as trade increases across the Taiwan Strait.

She noted that Hong Kong has aggressively developed various financial instruments to boost Chinese renminbi investment since 2004.Taiwan can learn from Hong Kong's experience in creating a broader range of renminbi denominated products.

“We have seen growing interest in the renminbi market, but there have not been sufficient channels for exit flows,” said Liu.

She pointed to the lack of investment opportunities and risk management services available to Taiwanese investors. She said Taiwan should capitalize on its ability to provide renminbi-denominated services such as deposits, lending and remittances after a currency-clearing mechanism was established across the Taiwan Strait last February.

The renminbi clearing amount conducted by the Bank of China's Taipei branch totaled US$5.5 billion in March.