better manage their rmb liquidity and played a significant role in offshore market development. these facilities will be reviewed from time to time with the aim of providing better liquidity support to the offshore rmb market. hong kong has also developed a highly efficient rmb clearing and settlement system. as i mentioned, its average daily turnover exceeded rmb1 trillion recently. we will continue to enhance the service capabilities of our rmb clearing and settlement system to keep pace with business growth. our system will complement the recently launched cross - border interbank bis central bankers ’ speeches payment system ( cips ) by the mainland authorities, making rmb business transactions even more convenient. conclusion in conclusion, china ’ s 13th five - year plan for 2016 – 2020 has reaffirmed its commitment to opening wider to the world, accelerating the opening up of the capital market and developing rmb as a convertible and freely usable currency. financial centres like hong kong and london, with their robust and mature markets, can play a major role in facilitating further usage of the rmb internationally. in this context, the hong kong – london rmb forum is an essential element in sharing our experiences and learning from each other, particularly in the areas of market and product developments. i wish you all a fruitful seminar. bis central bankers ’ speeches

will be an ideal place for corporates to raise funds for infrastructure projects and manage investments for their ‘ belt and road ’ developments. the capital investment projects are also expected to create new opportunities for the use of rmb in trade and investment activities, giving rise to new opportunities for rmb settlement, financing and asset management in the region. to ride on these opportunities, hong kong has been actively pursuing measures to develop into a hub for corporate treasury centres ( ctcs ) as chinese corporates and multinational companies expand their footprints and increasingly demand centralised treasury management. the hkma has been working closely with the government to develop a concessionary tax regime to provide a more market - friendly environment for these companies to set up their ctcs in hong kong, and the relevant amendment bill was introduced into the legislative council last week. the third trend is that market developments, both in terms of turnover and product range, have picked up momentum in the past year. there is a rapidly growing list of products provided by our banks in hong kong to meet their clients ’ liquidity, hedging and other business needs in rmb. at the end of april, the daily turnover of rmb foreign exchange transactions in hong kong had reached us $ 93 billion equivalent, more than eight times greater than five years ago. the average daily turnover of hong kong ’ s rmb real time gross settlement system also exceeded rmb1 trillion recently. going forward, we should see more products denominated in rmb. this is an area where market participants can play their part and why we also think seminars like this are important in bringing together ideas and looking at solutions. building market infrastructure the hkma has played a major role in promoting market development, with our strategy focusing on strengthening market infrastructure to support offshore rmb business. indeed, liquidity is the linchpin in growing this offshore business and the hkma has in place a rmb400 billion currency swap agreement with the people ’ s bank of china which can be activated when market conditions warrant. in addition, we have made available an rmb liquidity facility to banks which is currently offering intraday repos of up to rmb10 billion, as well as overnight funds on t + 0 basis and one - day and one - week funds settled on t + 1 basis. we have also appointed seven banks as primary liquidity providers ( plps ) and provided each with a bilateral repo facility of up to rmb2 billion. these facilities have helped banks to