Luxembourg lining up for yuan quota
Officials from the nation, backed by largest pool of the Chinese currency deposited in Europe, will lobby Beijing for acceptance into RQFII scheme
Luxembourg is lobbying Beijing for equal treatment with London, which was granted an investment quota last year allowing investors based there to invest their offshore yuan directly in the mainland's securities markets.
In an effort to capture a larger share of Europe's offshore yuan business, top officials from the grand duchy, including the minister of finance, plan to visit the mainland in May or June for talks with the financial authorities.
We are much stronger in deposits, loans, investment funds and bonds
Luxembourg, which holds the largest pool of yuan deposits in Europe, is seeking to be accepted into the renminbi qualified foreign institutional investor scheme.
The scheme grants selected offshore yuan holders a quota to invest in the mainland's stock and bond markets.
"We are hoping, if not before, at least at that stage, to get some good news," said Nicolas Mackel, the chief executive of Luxembourg for Finance, a government-backed agency tasked with promoting and developing the country's finance industry.
"We are very confident the Chinese will look at the second batch of jurisdictions that they would offer RQFII status to and Luxembourg would be among them."
Competition among would-be offshore yuan centres has been intensifying, and acceptance into the RQFII scheme has been a key target for each of them, as the two-year-old programme is the only channel through which offshore yuan can be invested directly in the onshore securities markets.
