a few moments setting out how these institutions the survey in 2013 was coordinated by the rba, while the 2014 survey was coordinated by the centre for international finance and regulation. the 2013 survey results are summarised in ballantyne a, m garner and m wright ( 2013 ) “ developments in renminbi internationalisation ”, rba bulletin, june, pp 65 – 74. the 2014 survey results are summarised in centre for international finance and regulation ( 2014 ), “ internationalisation of the renminbi : pathways, implications and opportunities ”, research report, march. bis central bankers ’ speeches operate. in essence, their key function is to facilitate cross - border payments and receipts of rmb for trade - related purposes on behalf of other financial institutions in the local market. of course, australian importers and exporters are already able to make and receive crossborder rmb payments through a number of existing channels. for example, australianbased banks can facilitate cross - border rmb trade transactions through correspondent banking relationships with banks in mainland china, or through rmb clearing “ services ” that are offered by australian - based chinese banks via their mainland chinese head offices. similarly, these transactions can also be effected through other offshore rmb centres, such as hong kong. in fact, the differences between an official rmb clearing bank and the channels that are already available are quite subtle, though still important. in essence, official rmb clearing banks are afforded more direct access to china ’ s onshore rmb and foreign exchange markets than other offshore institutions. more specifically, official clearing banks have direct access to china ’ s interbank rmb payments system and receive a quota to transact in china ’ s onshore foreign exchange market. these changes also entail more direct access to rmb liquidity from the pbc. while an official rmb clearing bank would not directly increase the range or type of rmb transactions that are permitted to take place between chinese and australian entities, it would improve the efficiency of cross - border rmb transactions, for example by potentially reducing payment delays and / or reducing transaction costs. and, over time, the presence of an official clearing bank could encourage local financial institutions to offer a broader range of rmb products to the local market than is currently available. given the way in which the chinese authorities have chosen to liberalise trading in the rmb, these clearing banks are playing an important practical and symbolic role. indeed, the establishment of a clearing

bank in australia would help ensure that we are well positioned to participate in the next stages in the process of rmb internationalisation. ultimately, though, if china does follow the general path travelled by a number of other countries, these clearing banks are likely to become less significant. in other currencies, alternative arrangements exist for the clearing of cross - border flows, with financial institutions managing the liquidity and risk issues without access to an official clearing bank. if this eventually turns out to be the case for the chinese currency as well, then there is likely to be a reduced need for these official clearing banks. in the meantime, they are an important stepping stone on the path to a more internationally integrated chinese currency. finally, a fifth step that we hope to take soon is to obtain a quota for australian - based financial institutions to invest in mainland china under the renminbi qualified foreign institutional investors ( or rqfii ) scheme. following the granting of a rqfii quota to a specific jurisdiction, financial institutions operating within that jurisdiction can apply to the chinese authorities to obtain an individual investment quota. approved institutions can then invest their own quota in selected mainland chinese bonds and equities using rmb obtained in the offshore market. in this way, the rqfii scheme can be thought of as representing both a partial relaxation of controls on inward portfolio investment to mainland china and as a means of developing the offshore rmb market. 3 an rqfii quota would therefore represent an important next step in facilitating cross - border rmb - denominated investment transactions the rqfii scheme exists alongside two other schemes that allow approved institutions to invest foreign currency in selected mainland chinese securities : namely, the qualified foreign institutional investors ( or qfii ) scheme and a scheme that is commonly referred to as the china interbank bond market ( or cibm ) scheme. a number of australian - domiciled institutions have already received quotas under the qfii scheme, while the rba ’ s acquisition of rmb reserves was facilitated under the cibm scheme. the qfii and cibm programs differ in a number of respects, including : the types of mainland securities that can be purchased ; the types of investors that are eligible to apply ; and the mechanisms that are available to convert foreign currency into rmb. bis central bankers ’ speeches between our two economies. and, as australia has a relatively large and sophisticated private funds management sector, there is significant potential for growth in this area. so,