Hungarian Central Bank initiates Renminbi program

Marking the Chinese New Year, which begins on Thursday, the Central Bank of Hungary announced the start of the Central Bank's Renminbi Program.

The move, in connection with the foreign exchange swap agreement concluded with the People's Bank of China in 2013, acknowledges the increasing importance of the yuan in international account settling.

China has become one of the European Union's most important trading partners, according to the Hungarian central bank's briefing. Hungary plays a vital role in China's ties to the EU, illustrated by the fact that to date the only currency exchange program between China's central bank and a bank in Central or Eastern Europe is with the Hungarian central bank.

In addition, the only Chinese commercial bank in the region is in Hungary and Hungary has also been the destination of a major amount of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in recent years.

As part of the Central Bank Renminbi Program, the Hungarian central bank is starting up a Budapest Renminbi Initiative to expand the range of investments in Hungary and increase financing sources. The goal is to establish a monetary, currency and capital market infrastructure and accounting system. This includes beginning talks on obtaining Chinese capital market permits for financial, business and government players ready to account in Remminbi. Endit