Singapore’s UOB Seeks More Yuan as Southeast Asia Usage Soars

The Chinese yuan’s limited offshore supply is posing operational challenges for United Overseas Bank Ltd., as more regional economies conduct trades and payments in the currency, according to an executive at the Singapore bank.

To boost yuan liquidity, UOB, which is the city-state’s third largest bank, has raised more deposits, turned to issuing panda bonds — or yuan-denominated notes issued by foreign borrowers in China’s onshore market — and increased activity in the foreign exchange swap market, Albert Yuan, the bank’s head of transaction banking for China and Hong Kong, said in an interview last week.