Today we want to celebrate the fact that it is now possible to settle transactions in Chinese renminbi via a local clearing bank here in Frankfurt. From now on, it will no longer be necessary to make use of other trading centres like Hong Kong or other trading hubs for this purpose.
I shall talk in more detail about the Frankfurt clearing bank in a moment. However, I first want to point out where the renminbi currently stands in its process of internationalisation, and what conditions were necessary for the transformation from a trade currency to an investment currency, and what needs to be fulfilled becoming an international reserve currency. 2.