The establishment of a hub for trade in the renminbi follows recent project financing in the Bahamas from the Chinese Government and from Chinese corporations.

The Bahamas has announced an initiative that will see the territory become a trading hub for the Chinese renminbi (yuan).

The Minister of Financial Services, Hope Strachan, said the success of the initiative would “translate into an entirely new frontier” of financial services and trade business for the country and would be a “monumental achievement” in making the Bahamas the Renminbi trading hub for the entire region. She said the hub would facilitate financial transactions and eliminate reliance on the US Dollar. 

The establishment of a hub for trade in the renminbi follows recent project financing in the Bahamas from the Chinese Government and from Chinese corporations.

Hope explained: “The rationale is that the Bahamas Government, Bahamian businesses, financial institutions, as well as those throughout the region, would have the ability to engage in less costly and less time-consuming processes related to transactions involving the direct clearing and payment of the yuan currency in the Bahamas.”

“It would eliminate reliance on the US dollar and the transacting of business through the United States. The creation of a platform for the Yuan to trade freely with the Bahamian Dollar will allow for international trade finance, and trade and investment to increase significantly.”

She said: “An increase in international trade finance, trade and investment would create jobs for Bahamians and strengthen the Bahamian economy. Economic slowdown in the United States magnifies the importance of the need to diversify cross-border trading with other markets around the world. Further, new financial institutions would be established in the Bahamas, including the introduction of the first Chinese bank to the country. The establishment of the renminbi trading hub in The Bahamas would help to further diversify our financial services sector and position the Bahamas favorably, from a global perspective, as an even more appealing place to invest and do business.”