Chinese bank, Canadian group to jointly explore offshore RMB market

The newly-launched RMB clearing bank in Canada and the owner of the Canadian stock exchange inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) here Wednesday to explore the RMB offshore market in North America.

According to the document, ICBC Canada (ICBK) and the TMX Group that owns and operates the Toronto Stock Exchange, will work to develop new opportunity for a wide range of financial products including bonds, stocks, interest rate derivatives and commodity derivatives.

ICBK, a subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), was officially launched here on Monday as the first RMB offshore trading center in the Western hemisphere.

The focus of ICBK-TMX cooperation will include, but not be limited to, the joint product development in multiple asset classes, clearing and settlement products and risk management mechanism.

Additionally, they will jointly explore the development of financial services, offshore RMB financing services, RMB bonds, index, Exchange Traded Fund and commodity.

Analysts say the move indicates that RMB Internationalization achieved "a new remarkable progress in Canada." The cooperation, which relies on the mature financial market in Canada, is obviously beneficial to both China and Canada, according to them.

Shu Gu, the senior executive vice president of ICBC, expressed his support in a statement, "it is a great opportunity to robust the trade between China and Canada. We believe this will also promote the pleasant business relationship with TMX Group."

"This MOU with ICBK represents an important new relationship for TMX Group," said TMX Group CEO Lou Eccleston. "We are pleased to begin work with ICBK to explore ways in which we can collaborate to strengthen our respective organizations and increase our presence in a key global marketplace."