<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<div id="_mcePaste">
<p class="p1">"...And don't let anybody make you think that God chose
America as his divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the
whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment
and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, "You are too
arrogant. <i>If you don't change your ways I will rise up and break
the backbone of your power, and I will place it in the hands of a
nation that doesn't even know my name.</i> Be still and know that <u>I'm</u>
God." <br>
</p>
<p class="p1">"You never give me your money, you only give me your
funny paper..."<br>
</p>
<p class="p1">EX-pat "Simon Black" writes more...<br>
</p>
<p class="p1">*<br>
</p>
Opening a renminbi savings account in the US
<p class="p1">January 12, 2011<br>
Santiago, Chile</p>
<p class="p2">In its latest step to make the renminbi a competing
global reserve currency, China’s predominantly state-owned Bank of
China will now let individuals open renminbi savings accounts… in the
United States.</p>
<p class="p1">Effective immediately, BOC’s US individual customers can
now open a renminbi denominated savings account with a $500 equivalent
minimum balance. The bank also offers certificates of deposit in
6-month and 1-year terms with a minimum of $1,000 equivalent.</p>
<p class="p1">The account opening procedures are simple– there is an
application form, a W-9 tax form, and a signature card. Applicants are
also required to provide a government-issued ID and one other form of
identification such as a credit card, employee ID card, insurance card,
etc. You do have to show up in person.</p>
<p class="p1">Businesses can also open renminbi accounts with a $5,000
equivalent minimum and requisite entity paperwork like Articles of
Organization, etc.</p>
<p class="p1">At this time, renminbi cash cannot be withdrawn from the
account, though I would expect this to change eventually. The bank does
provide currency exchange services between dollars and renminbi at its
Chinatown branch in New York; current limits are up to $4,000 per day,
and $20,000 per year.</p>
<p class="p2">China doesn’t do anything overnight, and I believe the
government is executing a long-term plan to make Shanghai the world’s
leading financial center… and as a part of that plan, for the renminbi
(or some derivative) to become a fully-convertible competing global
reserve currency.</p>
<p class="p1">We’re already seeing significant signs of this– many
sovereign nations are holding renminbi in reserve instead of just
dollars, and Chinese cross border settlement is now frequently being
transacted in renminbi instead of dollars because of new clearing and
settlement platforms that have been established in Hong Kong.</p>
<p class="p1">Just last week <a
href="http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/when-will-the-renminbi-overtake-the-dollar/"
target="_blank">I wrote about a new renminbi denominated gold contract</a>
that will trade in Hong Kong, as well as the recent World Bank renminbi
bond issuance.</p>
<p class="p1">Bank of China’s move in the United States is just the
latest step in this long-term process to loosen exchange controls and
achieve full convertibility of the renminbi, and I think we’ll see even
more steps like this in the coming months and years.</p>
<p class="p1">More specifically, I imagine that a similar exchange
platform will be unveiled in Europe for euro and pound conversion into
renminbi; that further renminbi-denominated contracts in Asian staple
commodities like rice will hit the Hong Kong exchange; and that many of
these contracts will move beyond Hong Kong to other exchanges.</p>
<p class="p2">Singapore is the most likely candidate to absorb renminbi
contracts; the Singapore exchange (SGX) already operates global
depository share trading of mainland Chinese companies, and it always
does its best to stay on the cutting edge of finance.</p>
<p class="p2">After Singapore, I think we’ll see renminbi contracts
spreading across the region into places like Australia (which has
strong economic ties to China) and Thailand (an agricultural
commodities powerhouse).</p>
<p class="p2">Several years from now, the entire world will know that
the baton has been passed on the day that the US Treasury Department
holds a bond auction denominated in renminbi, or the day when a bank
wire transfer from Bangkok to Boston passes through a corresponding
bank in Shanghai.</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>