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By Kevin Lim and Umesh Desai
SINGAPORE, May 27 (Reuters) - British banks HSBC Holdingsplc and Standard Chartered plc sold 1.5billion yuan ($244.63 million) worth of notes in Singapore onMonday in the first dim sum bond issuances since yuan-clearingbecame available in the city-state.
China has been relaxing controls on the yuan, officiallyreferred to as the renminbi or RMB outside the country, in orderto gradually increase the use of its currency abroad.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has begunyuan-clearing in Singapore, the world's fourth-largest forextrading centre and the main Asian base for oil and commoditytraders.
Separately, Singapore Exchange on Monday launcheddepository services for yuan-denominated bonds, otherwise knownas dim sum bonds, in a bid to support Singapore's development asan offshore hub for issuers and investors of yuan-denominatedbonds.
Yuan-clearing was already available in Hong Kong and Taiwan,and previously, much of the yuan activity in Singapore had to gothrough Hong Kong where yuan transactions could be cleared byBank of China.
Matthew Cannon, head of global markets at HSBC Singapore,said proceeds from the yuan notes, which offer investors a yieldof 2.25 percent, would be used to finance the bank's expansionof yuan-based lending assets.
"This issuance will help open the market to other issuerslooking to fund themselves internationally in RMB, offer newinvestment opportunities to the substantial pool of wealthmanaged in Singapore and assist in funding the rapidly growingRMB-denominated trade business in Asia," he said.
HSBC's earlier pricing meant it beat rival StanChart to thepunch.
StanChart raised 1 billion yuan through a Singapore-listedthree-year offshore bond priced with a coupon of 2.625 percent.The bank received more than 3 billion yuan in orders from 75investors across Asia, it said.
Besides HSBC and Stanchart, DBS Group is alsoplanning to issue yuan-denominated bonds. Singapore's largestlender announced its plan on Thursday but has yet to launch thedebt securities.
China's yuan hit a record high against the dollar on Mondayfor the seventh time this month after the central bank set themidpoint at its strongest level.
