The internationalization of the RMB and its implications for China and the world

QinXiaoCentre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Melbourne

Dr Qin Xiao
Chair, Boyuan Foundation and Former Chair, China Merchants Group and China Merchants Bank

5.30-7.00pm, Thursday 10 March, 2016
Room 321, Level 3, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, 761 Swanston Street, University of Melbourne

As China became the largest trading country in the world in the 21st century, the use of its currency, the RMB, has grown in trade settlements. The rapid expansion of cross-border use of the RMB has brought with it a de facto internationalization of the currency, along with the emergence of offshore markets. These developments have helped to promote institutional reforms at home, such as capital account opening, interest rate liberalization and exchange rate regime reform. This process has accelerated with the currency’s recent inclusion in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket, which will further boost global demand for the RMB and its internationalization.

Dr Qin will trace the trajectory of this process as the RMB progressed from trade currency to investment currency, and discuss the institutional reform necessary to enable the completion of this roadmap, for the RMB to eventually become a reserve currency.

Dr Qin Xiao is Chairman of the Board of the Boyuan Foundation. He is a council member of the Financial Services Development Council in Hong Kong and an Adjunct Professor at Tsinghua University and Chinese University of Hong Kong. Until his recent retirement, Dr Qin was Chairman of the China Merchants Group and the China Merchants Bank. Previously he was President and Vice Chairman of China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC), and Chairman of CITIC Industrial Bank. He has also served as an advisor to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and Chairman of APEC Business Advisory Council. Dr Qin has also been a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and a deputy to the National People’s Congress.

Dr Qin holds a PhD in economics from University of Cambridge. He has published widely, in Chinese and English, on topics in economics, management and social transformation.

Admission is free, but registration is essential.

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