China-Africa Trade Corridor: AfrAsia Bank launches Renminbi Yuan services

Oct. 23, 2011 - PRLog -- AfrAsia Bank is pleased to announce the launch of Renminbi Yuan current accounts, as a new product offering to its clients, providing the latter with the ability to freely conduct forex transactions involving Renminbi(RMB/CNY) and to make trade related payments directly to mainland China. The accounts will be initially remunerated at a rate of 0.38% per annum for balances as from RMB50,000 with interest paid on a monthly basis. The Bank also intends to take in the near future, fixed deposit in Renminbi for periods of 3, 6 and 12 months and for amounts starting as from RMB100,000.

“This new service is a very valuable addition to our offering particularly for corporate customers participating in the increasingly important Sino-Mauritian business relationships,” explained Ben Padayachy, General Manager, Head of Global Banking, Treasury and Markets at AfrAsia Bank. “Our customers trading with China will be able to receive, as well as pay, in Renminbi, subject to certain restrictions, without having to convert their currency exposure, helping them lower their trading costs, reduce foreign exchange risk and strengthen their relationships with Chinese partners,” he further added.

With this new service, AfrAsia Bank now provides a whole range of documentary foreign transactions in Renminbi, including the opening and settlement of letters of credit, the settlement of collection, and the issuance of bank guarantees.  

In 2010, China’s total trade volume was just over RMB20 trillion, of which just RMB506 billion was settled in RMB. In the first half of this year alone, RMB 360 billion of China’s total trade was settled in RMB. “Given the rate of trade growth with China, it is predicted that more than half of the trade between China and emerging markets will be settled in Renminbi Yuan in the next two to four years — our customers need to be ready for this,” said Mr Jen Ramanah , Money Market Executive at AfrAsia Bank.

AfrAsia Bank aims to help its clients capitalize on new business opportunities in the Chinese market and the China-Africa trade corridor. Chinese companies are displaying an increasing interest in concluding their business transactions in Renminbi in order to mitigate currency risk.  “With the steady internationalization of China’s Renminbi, it is believed that the Sino-African trade denominated in Renminbi is set to reach the USD100 billion figure by 2015” said Jen Ramanah.

A network of new ‘South-South’ trading routes connecting Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, is set to transform the global economy. “In the same way that trade between the developed nations exploded in the 1950s and 1960s, it is expected that the 21st Century will see increased trade growth between the emerging nations,” said James Benoit, AfrAsia Bank CEO.

“As South-South trade picks up, so should South-South capital flows, undermining the US dollar’s reserve currency status and fostering the development of major new financial centers, notably in Asia and obviously Mauritius too. Changes on this scale would be truly remarkable, taking us back hundreds of years to when world trade was centered not on Europe and North America but, instead, on Asia and Africa,” he concluded.

For more information, please call:
Suneeta Motala
Head of Marketing and Public Relations
AfrAsia Bank Limited
Tel: 208 5500 / 256 7545
Email: suneeta.motala@afrasiabank.com


About AfrAsia Bank Limited
AfrAsia Bank is a boutique bank that offers a comprehensive range of financial solutions while ensuring that customers benefit from a dedicated, personalized and unparalleled customer service. Our partnership approach and our team of highly experienced professionals allow our clients to discover a different facet of banking with customized services focusing on:

- Corporate and Investment Banking
- Private Banking and Wealth Management
- International Banking Solutions
- Treasury

With our Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) License in India, our Corporate Finance House (AfrAsia Corporate Finance) and three representative offices in South Africa, our stake in AXYS Capital Management and our international stakeholders such as Dale Capital Group of South Africa, Intrasia Capital of Singapore and Proparco (filiale de l'Agence Française de Développement) which are facilitating our regional growth, we are delivering on our promise to be a truly one-stop boutique regional bank that links these Africa-Asia continents together seamlessly.

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AfrAsia Bank is a boutique bank that offers a comprehensive range of financial solutions while ensuring that customers benefit from a dedicated, personalized and unparalleled customer service. We deliver a different facet of banking with customized services focusing on:

- Corporate and Investment Banking
- Private Banking and Wealth Management
- International Banking Solutions
- Treasury

With our Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) License in India, our Corporate Finance House (AfrAsia Corporate Finance) and three representative offices in South Africa, our stake in AXYS Capital Management and our international stakeholders such as Dale Capital Group of South Africa, Intrasia Capital of Singapore and Proparco (filiale de l'Agence Française de Développement) which are facilitating our regional growth, we are delivering on our promise to be a truly one-stop boutique regional bank that links these Africa-Asia continents together seamlessly.