EBS.com – Hong Kong, London, New York – EBS BrokerTec, ICAP’s market-leading electronic foreign exchange (FX) and fixed income business and ICAP Information Services (IIS), the information division of ICAP, announce today that they have launched the ‘EBS CNH Benchmark’, the first fully electronic, trade-backed reference rate for the offshore Chinese renminbi (CNH) market. The benchmark has been launched following considerable interest from a number of major Chinese banks and senior onshore authorities
Published daily at 16:30 Beijing / 08:30 GMT, the EBS CNH Benchmark is timed to coincide with the onshore renminbi (CNY) market close. This will allow market participants a direct comparison of CNY and CNH market activity during the increasingly significant APAC-EMEA crossover. The benchmark will provide the first transparent reference rate for offshore RMB trading in international markets.
Calculated and distributed by IIS, the EBS CNH Benchmark incorporates rates from executed trades during the fixing window from the EBS Market central limit order book. The benchmark uses transparent methodology consistent with the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks, to create a reliable and accurate daily reference rate.
The launch of the EBS CNH Benchmark further establishes EBS as the primary OTC venue for CNH globally. Currently 70% of all CNH interbank activity is traded on the EBS Market with USD/CNH the third most traded currency pair on the platform.
Darryl Hooker, Co-Head of EBS BrokerTec Markets, said: “The CNH market continues to grow exponentially with more market participants trading USD/CNH than ever before. As a result, there is an industry need for an innovative benchmark which accurately and reliably captures the true reference rate, at the Asia- Europe crossover. Launching a dedicated benchmark for this market, was the logical next step in our CNH offering and we look forward to working with our customers to further develop and realise the full potential of this benchmark.”
Gary Licht, Director of Local Currency Markets, ICBC Standard Bank, said: “The continued internationalisation and liberalisation of the RMB will, no doubt, benefit from a reliable and transparent benchmark in the EMEA time zone. Such a credible benchmark will, over time, aid CNH product development increasing the effectiveness of hedge instruments available to EMEA based clients. ICBC Standard Bank looks forward to monitoring the progress of this initiative as we continue to witness strong CNH interest within Europe and the Americas.”
Jan de Smedt, Global Head of Indices, IIS, said: “The EBS CNH Benchmark combines trade-backed EBS Market data with a transparent methodology and our independent governance model to produce a much-needed benchmark for this unique and growing market. The benchmark provides customers with meaningful and accurate information that will aid price discovery for trading USD/CNH.”
