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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA
SHANGHAI -- Citigroup Inc.'s China-incorporated unit, Citibank (China) Co., said it received regulatory approval to act as a market maker on China's interbank bond market, making it the second foreign market maker in Asian's second-largest debt market after Japan.
Allowing more-experienced international investors to post bond prices in China's debt market should help build a more efficient pricing mechanism. The move also represents an increase in foreign banks' role in the domestic bond market; Beijing allowed the locally incorporated units of foreign lenders to sell yuan-denominated bonds in Shanghai and Hong Kong earlier this year.
Before Citibank China's approval, the local interbank bond market had 20 market makers, including the first approved foreign entity, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s locally incorporated unit, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank (China) Co., according to an industry group overseen by the central bank.
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank (China) became a market maker in May 2008.
Citibank China said it was the most active foreign bank in China's interbank market in 2008 by trading volume. Citibank China is also a market maker in China's interbank foreign-exchange market. |
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