ICBC Singapore branch sells 2 bln yuan 'Lion City' bonds

The Singapore branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) said on Wednesday it had sold 2 billion yuan (328 million U.S. dollars) "Lion City" bonds, representing the largest Chinese yuan bond issuance in local market by far. The ICBC also became the first Chinese bank to issue yuan bonds in Singapore.

According to Zhang Weiwu, General Manager of the Singapore branch, orders for the issue reached 5.2 billion yuan (854 million U.S. dollars). Among the investors, Singaporeans accounted for 55 percent, while investors from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region took up 43 percent, and the remaining 2 percent belonged to other markets.

By industry, banks and corporations were allocated 25 percent each, while fund managers got 35 percent and private banks got 15 percent.

Zhang said there are huge demands for more yuan investment channels in Singapore. The issuance of the "Lion City" bonds provided local and regional investors a tool to step into the offshore yuan capital market.

The ICBC Singapore branch was designated as the yuan clearing bank in Singapore by China's regulator earlier this year. It kicked off yuan clearing services on May 27.

Currently, 66 local and foreign banks have opened yuan clearing accounts with ICBC Singapore Branch, contributing a clearing volume as much as 1.7 trillion yuan (279.1 billion U.S. dollars). The clearing volume also increased from 60 billion yuan (9.85 billion U.S. dollars) in the first month of commencement of the clearing services to around 500 billion yuan (82.1 billion U.S. dollars) per month to date.

Zhang also revealed at the press conference that the cross- border yuan settlement volume of the Singapore branch had recorded over 120 billion yuan (19.7 billion U.S. dollars) as of the end of this October. Its yuan asset was over 26 billion yuan (4.27 billion U.S. dollars), while it had over 11 billion yuan (1.81 billion U.S. dollars) deposits at the same period.

"Our strategy is to leverage our strength in RMB businesses to grow Singapore branch to be a preferred bank in RMB businesses in Singapore," Zhang said.

Zhang added that the branch plans to increase the yuan assets' percentage of their total assets to 60 percent from the current 45 percent next year. In the future three years, the ratio is planned to even higher at 70 percent.

The ICBC Singapore branch is celebrating its 20th anniversary on Wednesday, along with the official opening of a private banking hub and upgraded full-banking service branches.