New digital financial infrastructure, new regional free trade agreements, and decisive leadership in the emerging sustainability and green agenda bode well for international RMB adoption.

The use of RMB in international transactions will increase despite US-China trade frictions and on-going COVID-19 pandemic according to the latest annual survey on RMB internationalisation conducted jointly by China Construction Bank and Asian Banker Research.

Innovation by financial technology companies (fintechs) has led to many banks opening their doors for collaborations. The strategic approaches, often multidimensional, vary from investments to building an ecosystem and technology partnership

President Xi Jinping’s pet project – “The Belt and Road Initiative” – aims to link Asia, Europe and Africa by rewriting global trade routes. With such a big project, China’s accompanying motivations are also enormous. Be it on an economic, political or strategic-level, the project is sold almost as a catch-all solution.

Regulators in Asia Pacific such as Indonesia's OJK are actively planning for measures to promote the growth of fintech in the region.

China Merchants Bank and China CITIC Bank are developing their credit card businesses to stimulate retail income.

While crowdlending in Asia Pacific shows early promise, its fate will be dictated by how regulators and banks respond to the challenges they pose.

It is clear that China’s goal of becoming the world’s largest economy by 2020 and the internationalisation of the RMB are two initiatives that are symbiotic in nature. With the recent IMF decision to include the currency in the SDR currency basket, what does the future hold for the RMB?

Despite considerable variations within the Middle East and Africa, the banking sector as a whole achieved good financial performance in 2014

Chinese private banks are upgrading philanthropic planning services to cater to increased demand following the country’s ‘common prosperity’ policy

The shift in global supply chains is accelerating demand for new financing programmes and solutions that aim to accelerate and improve trade digitalisation processes

An altered operating environment has led treasury to reprioritise their investment and liquidity management strategy, with cash management providers offering enhanced solutions