More banks cleared to trade yuan

Approval has been granted to 18 foreign banks' branches and six local lenders to trade onshore foreign exchange forwards in the yuan as Beijing tries to spur trading of the month-old instruments, Reuters reported, citing the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. The newly approved institutions include the Shanghai branches of Dutch lender ABN Amro, Bank of America Corp and Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank. The forwards were launched on August 15 to provide a benchmark for local expectations of the yuan's longer-term appreciation following its revaluation in July. Only about a dozen forward deals, however, have been done since the launch.