Another two new examples of the march of the renminbi confirm that corporate treasurers need to factor the RMB into their trading models:

1 - Standard Chartered Renminbi Globalisation Index (RGI)
Standard Chartered today announced that the RGI reached a new high of 841 in February, up 4% from 809 in January. This translates to 64.5% year on year growth, the fastest pace since August last year. The lead contributor to February, RGI was the surge in Hong Kong CNH deposits, which was primarily driven by net outflows from mainland via trade settlement and the return of Chinese yuan (CNY) appreciation expectations.

Demand for dim sum bonds appears to increase as a wider range of investors get on board, which will, Standard Chartered. believe drive the RGI higher in the future.

Furthermore, data from Taiwan Central Bank and SWIFT payments showed a rapid increase in the use of Renminbi for cross-border trade in Taiwan, which is now the 4th largest offshore RMB centre for international payments. Standard Chartered expect Taiwan's total Renminibi deposit pool to be on track to reach CNY100-150 billion by end-2013. This will push harder for its inclusion in the RGI.

2 - Brazilian importer made first import payment in RNMB
Brazilian importer Gala Embalagens recently made its first import payment in renminbi to its key China-based manufacturer. The toy manufacturer has said all future payments made to China will be in the Asian currency. HSBC claim this is the first ever made in Brazil) import transaction in renminbi. Under the terms of the transaction, arranged by HSBC's commercial banking team in Brazil, Gala Embalagens imported Rmb732,000. By paying in renmibi, rather than converting its payment through US dollars as Gala previously did, the company reduced exchange-rate risk and costs for Delta their manufacturer, which in turn passed on the savings to their Brazilian customer.