Julian Martin heads the RMB (renminbi) competence center for the French bank BNP Paribas.  Rob Harley of Euromoney quotes him in his December 8 article for that publications with the headline "Rise of RMB trading shows little sign of slowing in 2015."   A shift to paying for commodities in RMB, Mr. Martin said, "is what's going to make the difference between RMB as a smaller currency and RMB as a general international currency."

We will keep this entry short, except to say that this is an issue with many strands, including:

• The competition among financial centers vying for RMB business,
   
• The effects on individual companies that do business in China or with China, and
   
• The changing relationship between RMB and the U.S. dollar, as China curbs its appetite for U.S. Treasuries.  As one Chinese official put it, "We usually lose money on Treasuries, so we need to find ways to improve our return on investment."

The Global Business Dialogue expects to highlight these and other issues with one or more public programs in 2015