China’s love affair with paper money looks set for a major shake-up soon, with a new plan to eliminate 1 yuan notes and replace them with coins. But anyone who lives here in Shanghai knows that change took place a while ago in our city, and no one seems to miss the ratty, green 1 yuan notes too much, myself included.
Money is an integral part of any nation’s identity, and the paper-versus-coin argument seems to be a broader subset of that dialogue. The issue has a historical twist here, since China was the actual birthplace of paper money back in the Tang Dynasty more than 1,000 year ago. Read Full Post…
Cheap manufactured goods have been the mainstay of China’s exporting machine for years, but now leading bank ICBC (HKEx: 1398; Shanghai: 601398) looks poised to ride an equally lucrative new wave by shipping huge bundles of China’s currency, the yuan, to Africa. That’s the message I get from a report in today’s China Daily, citing an executive of South Africa’s Standard Bank, ICBC’s chief partner in Africa, talking about the huge growth potential for yuan services in Africa. Standard Bank’s China head Craig Bond says at least 40 percent of Africa’s trade with China, or about $100 billion worth, will be settled in the Chinese currency by 2015, adding at least $10 billion of Chinese investment in Africa will be denominated in yuan over the same period. While Bond never mentions ICBC by name, industry watchers know the two share a strong alliance through ICBC’s ownership of 20 percent of Africa’s biggest lender, and that the pair are strengthening their tie-up with ICBC’s recent plans to purchase 80 percent of Standard Bank’s Argentine unit. (
