Interesting... I wonder how small is the investment Stevens is talking about......see last paragraph. RBA boss launches Chinese currency hub Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens has made his first public appearance since last week's historic rate cut, launching Australia's official Chinese renminbi trading hub. Mr Stevens on Monday launched the Bank of China in Sydney as the official clearing bank for the Chinese currency in Australia, making Sydney one of just a handful of locations for the clearing of transactions in yuan, also known as the renminbi. The Sydney trading hub was announced last year as a side deal to Australia's free-trade agreement with China, as part of an agreement between the RBA and its Chinese counterpart, the People's Bank of China. The establishment of the official clearing bank would help strengthen trade relations between China and Australia, helping to open up China's economy to Australian businesses, Mr Stevens said. The RBA last week slashed Australia's cash rate to a new record low of 2.25 per cent, although today's comments by Mr Stevens made no mention of monetary policy. "The key direct benefit of the official Australian [renminbi] clearing bank is that it can more efficiently facilitate transactions between Australian firms and their mainland Chinese counterparts using the Chinese currency," Mr Stevens said. "Over the long run, Chinese firms may increasingly wish their trade with Australian firms to be settled in [renminbi]," he said. Mr Stevens also said the RBA had invested "a small proportion" of Australia's foreign currency reserves in the Chinese currency. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...212992751?nk=9b940ea0059a0f266dc73626c60bedab
Question now is whether the AUD is directly covertable for small to medium businesses that do OTC forex which will hopefully bring the spreads down for tourists trading cash, or is this kinda deal only acessabile to miners?
yeah... I just wonder which investment will be Chinese's favorite tapping on our shores so freely..... mining/oil/gas ? bingo! they got us......
Surely there will be a new reform or news on that front..... they are opening the gates..... so things will hot it up soon....
I would certainly prefer doing business with China in RMB, doing so via USD is a tax really with the multiple FOREX fees.
