Market Watch

France Plans Currency Swap Line With Whina

Looks likes the BRICS  team just got bigger. Reuters reports HERE


France intends to set up a currency swap line with China to make Paris a major offshore yuan trading hub in Europe, competing against London, the China Daily on Saturday cited Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer as saying.

“The Bank of France has been working on ways to develop a RMB liquidity safety net in the euro area with due consideration of a supporting currency swap agreement with the People’s Bank of China,” Noyer told the English-language newspaper.

The yuan’s internationalization and bilateral financial cooperation could be among the main topics during French President Francois Hollande’s visit to China in late April, the paper said.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius paid a two-day visit to Beijing this week.

The planned swap line would be the latest in a string of bilateral currency agreements that China has signed in the past three years to promote use of the yuan in trade and investment.

It followed a similar step by the Bank of England to set up a reciprocal three-year yuan-sterling swap line with China.

Britain, always anxious to maintain London’s status as Europe’s biggest financial center, launched an offshore yuan currency and bond market to great fanfare last year.