UK kicks off road show for first renminbi sovereign bond   

英国人民币国债发行路演 成首个发行西方国家

(ECNS) – The UK Treasury is meeting with investors in London and holding an Internet road show on Monday for its first renminbi (RMB) sovereign debt.

The government announced the beginning of the issuance on October 9. The UK will be the first country other than China to issue bonds in China's RMB, or yuan.

Currently, Britain holds a mix of reserve currencies in US dollars, euros, yen and Canadian dollars.

The Treasury said the issue would be of benchmark size, which usually means a volume of over $500 million. It has appointed HSBC, Standard Chartered and the state-owned Bank of China to run the sale.

Analysts say the move signals a big step in RMB globalization as not only a means of payment, but a reserve currency.

Foreign media have reported that Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said on October 12 that several countries already hold some of their reserves in yuan. Known examples include Nigeria, Belarus and Malaysia. Nigeria has about 5 to 10 percent of its foreign reserve in yuan.

Zhou also said China will work to make the renminbi more convertible, which some scholars have cited as a major obstacle to its becoming a global reserve currency.