FX

China is continuing its push for reforms to its FX market with the establishment of a self-regulating committee that authorities say will give market participants more sway over renminbi reference rates.

Electronic broker Icap launched the first offshore renminbi (CNH) FX benchmark based on market trading, the first said on July 7. The new fix, which is priced at the open of European markets, aims to fill the gap between Asian trading sessions.

A new index series created by Thomson Reuters and licensed to the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX) is aiming to become the renminbi equivalent of the widely used DXY dollar index, one of the series’ creators at Thomson Reuters told GlobalRMB.

China’s foreign exchange and interbank money market announced on Wednesday that foreign financial instituions conducting FX forward-trading will have to start setting aside reserves later in the year.

China’s attempts to allow markets forces to play a bigger role in the currency seemed to have backfired this week with both the onshore RMB (CNY) and its offshore (CNH) counterpart experiencing a tumultuous ride. Further depreciation is expected but the big unknown remains how policy makers will act.

China’s onshore FX market has kicked off its new trading hours this week which allow for trading until 11.30pm. By while the regulator’s move is well intentioned, FX traders who are working the new night shift say the market faces some fundamental problems.