Britain agrees to build investment hub for China's currency
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Beijing - Britain and China agreed on measures that British Chancellor George Osborne said will develop London into a global hub for investments using China's renminbi currency Tuesday.
"A great nation like China should have a great global currency,"Osborne said following talks with Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai.
"Today we agreed the next big step in making London - already the global centre for finance - a major global centre for trading and now investing the Chinese currency too," Osborne said.
"More trade and more investment means more business and more jobs for Britain," he said.
The British government said Osborne and Ma agreed to a pilot plan for licences to invest renminbi directly from London into China,removing the need to invest via the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.
The agreement gives London an initial investment quota of 80 billion yuan (13.1 billion dollars).
Under a separate agreement, British regulators will hold talks with Chinese banks on allowing them to open wholesale branches in Britain.
The two governments hailed the agreements as "an important step that cements London's major role as one of the most important global centres for renminbi trading." London accounts for about 28 per cent of global renminbi payments,or 62 per cent of renminbi trade outside mainland China and Hong Kong, the British government said.
