More importantly, I believe, the IMF’s decision will promote further confidence in using the RMB for international trade and financial transactions, giving more impetus to RMB’s internationalisation process. The IMF’s decision therefore represents a key milestone in the RMB’s internationalisation. Significant progress has also made in other areas in the cross-border use of the RMB over the past year. And, I see three important trends emerging: Key trends on RMB internationalisation First is the continuing liberalisation of the capital accounts with major breakthroughs in new policy headroom granted by the Mainland authorities. The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect has been in place and operating smoothly since November 2014, allowing international investors access to the A-shares listed in Shanghai through the stock exchange in Hong Kong, and vice versa. The Mainland-Hong Kong Mutual Recognition of Funds scheme was implemented in July this year, allowing Mainland and Hong Kong funds to be distributed in each other’s markets through a streamlined approval process. Eligible funds currently going through that approval process are expected to be launched in the market shortly. Since June, offshore banks have also been allowed to conduct repos in the onshore interbank bond market, while since July, foreign central banks, sovereign wealth funds and supranational organisations have been allowed access to the onshore interbank bond market without investment quotas and to conduct a much wider range of transactions. They were also granted access to the Chinese foreign exchange market in September. These have been key steps in liberating the capital accounts.
Andrew Bailey: It’s a recovery, but not as we know it Speech by Mr Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, Mansion House, London, 1 July 2021. * * *  Introduction Lord Mayor, there has been nothing usual about the last sixteen months. Even long-standing neighbours like the Bank and the Mansion House have had to resort to video conferences rather than popping round for a word. And one of the trickiest issues for all of us is dress code and etiquette – is this a ties on or off video, who knows? I can admit that I don’t seem to be a very good predictor of dress code. But you did throw me not long ago Lord Mayor, when we had a video call about an hour before we were both speaking at an event, and I can reveal that you were dressed in a Mansion House bomber jacket. So, white tie to black tie to bomber jacket. I should say that by the time of the event, the Lord Mayor had changed into something more conventional. The story so far Conventional is not a word I have used about the performance of the economy in the last sixteen months. Last calendar year, UK GDP declined by an annual growth rate of 9¾%, and based on our last forecast in early May we expect it to grow by 7¼% this year. It’s more meaningful to express the level of activity relative to the end of 2019 (pre-Covid).