Thomson Reuters Adds Yuan Forwards to Thomson Reuters Matching

Thomson Reuters has expanded its offering for the offshore yuan (CNH) market with the launch of FX swap CNH trading on Thomson Reuters Matching. This is the first time CNH forwards trading has been made available via an interbank electronic marketplace.

The new service complements the existing FX spot CNH service launched by Thomson Reuters last year and is available to existing Thomson Reuters Matching subscribers with the required clearing facilities in place. Currently this includes over 80 global financial institutions.

Mark Kiley, global head of sales, treasury transactions services at Thomson Reuters, says with the average daily CNH trading volume now more than $1 billion, interest in the offshore yuan market has been phenomenal.

The launch of FX swaps for offshore yuan is a natural progression and meets great demand from their CNH customers, he adds. Along with the provision of the CNH fixing, the spot and swaps trading capabilities enable customers to quickly access real liquidity and manage ever growing customer flows and interest, according to Kiley.

The addition of CNH forwards trading to Thomson Reuters Matching further expands the company's services to support the offshore yuan market. It follows Hong Kong's Treasury Market Association's (TMA) recent appointment of Thomson Reuters to compile and publish Hong Kong's first offshore yuan spot fixing rate.

In 2010, trades settled in Chinese yuan and handled by banks in Hong Kong amounted to 369 billion yuan (approximately $57 billion), equivalent to 73 percent of mainland China's total trade in Chinese yuan. In the first quarter of 2011, this ratio surged by 86 percent, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.