Brexit and the internationalization of renmimbi

This study focuses on China's efforts to internationalize its currency, the renmimbi (RMB). In particular, the aim of this research is to examine how London's financial market fits into Beijing's broader strategy to boost the international use of the renmimbi. This work therefore develops in three main parts. First - in light of the emerging "currency multipolarity", an overview of China's policy initiatives to partially liberalize its capital account (in order to allow foreign entities to invest in the country using the RMB) and, in parallel, to establish an offshore market for the renmimbi to be traded and flow transnationally. Second - an analysis of economic relations and financial cooperation between China and the United Kingdom, especially during Prime Minister David Cameron's tenure, which saw the most remarkable advances for RMB internationalization on London's financial hub. Third - an assessment of the possible impacts of Brexit (which has yet to be delivered) on the City of London and the related RMB business, highlighting Chinese reactions to the 2016 referendum and laying out a possible framework for post-Brexit relations between China and the UK, with a view to the next steps in the internationalization of the renmimbi. This study emphasizes the political side of financial cooperation, as the workings of international financial markets are not separated from political relations between states, but, on the contrary, are affected and shaped by them.