Singapore, 22 October 2013… Singapore and China today
agreed on new initiatives to strengthen cooperation on financial sector
development and regulation. The agreement was reached at the 10th Joint Council
for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), co-chaired by Singapore Deputy Prime
Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security, and Minister for Home
Affairs, Mr Teo Chee Hean, and People’s Republic of China Vice Premier of the
State Council, Mr Zhang Gaoli.
2 The
new initiatives will further promote the international use of the Renminbi
(RMB) through Singapore.
(i) China
will extend its Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII)
programme to Singapore, with an aggregate quota of RMB 50 billion. This will
allow qualified Singapore-based institutional investors to channel offshore RMB
from Singapore into China’s securities markets. RQFII licence holders may also
issue RMB investment products to the broad pool of investors in Singapore,
using the RQFII quota. The RQFII programme will help to diversify the base of
investors in China’s capital markets and promote adoption of the RMB for
investment.
(ii) Singapore
will be given consideration as one of the investment destinations under the new
Renminbi Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (RQDII) scheme. This will allow qualified Chinese
institutional investors to use RMB to invest in Singapore’s capital markets.
The measure will help to broaden the universe of assets available to Chinese
investors as well as the investor base for Singapore’s capital markets.
(iii) China
and Singapore will introduce direct currency trading between the Chinese Yuan
and Singapore Dollar. Further details will be announced separately.
(iv) New
measures are being studied to allow cross-border flows of RMB between Singapore
and Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) as well as Tianjin Eco-City (TEC).
3 Singapore and China also
announced measures to strengthen regulatory cooperation.
(i) Relevant
agencies are in discussions to facilitate China-incorporated companies which
have received regulatory approval to list directly in Singapore, instead of
through entities incorporated outside China.
(ii) The
Singapore Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange have signed an MOU to strengthen
collaboration in the joint development of commodity derivatives.
(iii) Singapore
and China agreed to strengthen cooperation in banking regulatory issues,
through exchanges and dialogues on topics of shared interest, and enhanced
coordination on international regulatory issues.
4 These
new initiatives build on agreements concluded earlier this year, including the
signing of the MOU on RMB Business Cooperation between the Monetary Authority
of Singapore (MAS) and the People’s Bank of China (PBC), and the enhancement of
the bilateral swap agreement between the two central banks, which paved the way
for the launch of RMB clearing functions in Singapore in May this year.
5 MAS
Managing Director, Mr Ravi Menon, said: “2013 has been a most productive year
for financial cooperation between Singapore and China. These initiatives would
not have been possible without the excellent relations between MAS and our
central bank and regulatory counterparts in China. Financial ties between the two countries have
deepened considerably and Singapore is well placed to promote greater use of
the RMB in international trade and investment in the years to come.”
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