A few months ago, Fortescue Metalsplaced a $100m order in China for railway cars to transport iron ore from its Australian mines – except that the order was in renminbi, at the request of the Chinese exporter. Fortescue then turned to Australian bank ANZ to provide a hedge to protect against adverse currency moves between the Chinese currency and the Australian dollar. Because the Aussie dollar moves less against the renminbi than it does against the US dollar, the hedge was cheaper than if the sale was in greenbacks.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, foreign banks such as ANZare receiving calls from the big mainland banks asking them to refinance their Chinese renminbi trade books.

That is a challenge for most foreign banks, given that they generally lack the renminbi funding that would enable them to easily enter into such transactions.