On August 14, the People’s Bank of China (PBC) issued RMB20 billion three-month and RMB10 billion one-year RMB-denominated central bank bills in Hong Kong, with the bid interest rate at 2.90 percent and 2.95 percent respectively. The issuance was appealing to the market as the bills were subscribed by offshore market investors of various types, ranging from commercial banks, funds, central banks to international financial organizations, with the total bid amount exceeding RMB78 billion, oversubscribed by 2.6 times.
The PBC has issued ten tranches totaling RMB120 billion of central bank bills in Hong Kong since November 2018, mostly with the maturity of three months, six months and one year. A normalized mechanism of issuing central bank bills in Hong Kong was therefore built up, which is conducive to enriching the variety of RMB investment products with high credit rating, offering a new tool for RMB liquidity management, improving the yield curve of RMB bonds in the region, and promoting the internationalization of RMB. (End)