HK expects to be largest off-shore yuan market:official

(Ecns.cn)--China may need more off-shore yuan markets to give the currency more global clout, and Hong Kong is likely to become the biggest one, said Chen Jiaqiang, director at the Hong Kong Financial Services and Treasury Bureau Sunday.

Achieving more scope in the off-shore market calls for strengthening cooperation between the Hong Kong off-shore market and the onshore market in Shanghai, according to Chen, and he says this tighter cooperation can be achieved through exchanging traded funds and futures.

By the end of February, Hong Kong had already become the largest platform for yuan settlement and financing, which enhances the possibility the island territory will become the largest of all the off-shore yuan markets, according to Chen.

China Daily cited one economist's observation that Hong Kong expects its yuan business to expand significantly over the next few years, to the benefit of its own economy.