UOB's U11 : U11 0% wholly-owned subsidiaries, UOB China and UOB Indonesia, have secured licences to be appointed cross-currency dealers (ACCDs) for the yuan and rupiah, UOB on Monday said in a statement.

With the ACCD licences, UOB China and UOB Indonesia can open offshore accounts in rupiah and yuan, respectively, and offer cross-currency exchange, financing, swaps and forwards in the currency pair to its corporate and institutional clients in the two markets.

UOB clients in Indonesia and China will also have direct access to onshore yuan-rupiah foreign exchange (FX) rates and liquidity to hedge their trade transactions and investments, while UOB China can also offer two-way quotes on the yuan against the rupiah in the interbank FX markets.

The licences form part of the local currency settlement framework between the People's Bank of China and Bank Indonesia to facilitate greater bilateral trade and investment flows between the two countries.

The bank said it is the first Singapore bank to be an ACCD for the yuan and rupiah in both China and Indonesia, and also the only Singapore-headquartered bank approved by the PBC to be a direct market maker for the yuan and rupiah.

It added that it will continue to grow its Asean Currency One-Stop Service in China to help clients benefit from the increased financial connectivity between China and markets in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The service provides a direct exchange of the yuan with financing and hedging solutions in various Asean currencies including the Singapore dollar, baht, ringgit and rupiah.

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UOB noted that bilateral trade between China and Indonesia reached US$78.4 billion in 2020. China's imports from Indonesia grew 9.5 per cent, and its foreign direct investment to Indonesia surged 86.5 per cent to almost US$2 billion.

Shares of UOB were trading at S$25.69 as at 11.53am on Monday, up S$0.13 or 0.5 per cent.

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