When will the renminbi overtake the dollar? By Simon Black |
January 6, 2011 - Santiago, Chile
Without
a doubt, the existing global financial system depends on the
widespread use of fiat currencies issued by insolvent governments.
The wealth of the world’s large financial institutions
requires that there be currencies with sufficient size and
circulation to absorb massive capital flows.
The current system is based primarily on the dollar; with
a $14 trillion economy, the United States was for years
the only country in the world with a sufficient money supply
and financial infrastructure to take in the preponderance
of the world’s wealth.
It is for this reason commercial loans, commodities contracts,
international reserves, and cross border settlements have
traditionally been denominated in US dollars.
Competing reserve currencies arose with the advent of the
euro and Japan’s post-war rise; while the dollar has
continued to remain dominant, these three are the only currencies
which have the necessary supply and credit rating.
With trillions of dollars floating around the global financial
system, managers are constantly making capital allocation
decisions, moving funds in and out of various instruments.
The reserve currencies play a big role in this because unallocated
capital is frequently parked in their bond markets.
For example, large corporations or banks that are sitting
on billions of dollars in cash typically purchase short-term
US or European government bonds because the low default
risk.
The dollar, euro, and yen have bond markets of such size
that getting liquid is never a problem, even for billions
of dollars. There is always a market for treasury securities,
hence they are considered ‘cash equivalents’.
You couldn’t do the same thing in the Kingdom of
Bhutan with its tiny $3.5 billion economy. If you tried
to move $100 million into Bhutan, its currency (the ngultrum)
would spike. In the US, Europe, and Japan, $100 million
barely registers a blip.
Over the last few years, though, the confidence has begun
to fade quickly, and the reserve currency issuing governments
are starting to be viewed with increasing skepticism.
The thing that’s missing right now is an acceptable
alternative. There’s really nothing out there in large
enough scale to withstand massive capital flows, and as
I have written before, the game is now one of judging the
‘least worst’ of these three major currencies.
In what seems to be a 6-month cycle, the dollar and euro
have been jockeying for the ‘worst of the worst’
title; markets focus on Greek woes for a few months, then
turn their attention back to California and Obamanomics.
With Bernanke’s “100% certainty” and
nonsensical economic numbers coming out of the America’s
Ministry of Truth (Newspeak: USMiniTruth), we seem to be
back in a period where the markets are more concerned with
Europe. I think that Japan will be called to the carpet
before too long as well.
As such, in an almost ritualistic cycle, financial markets
are shifting funds around these currencies… the analogy
I like to think of is like a series of buckets.
Imagine three buckets and an increasing volume of water.
Capital allocators are essentially dumping the contents
of one pail into another– from the dollar bucket into
the euro and yen bucket, and from the euro bucket back into
the dollar bucket.
Each time this happens, though, a little bit of water spills
out into smaller buckets– gold, silver, Switzerland,
Norway, Canada, Chile, Australia, etc.
All throughout, central bankers are standing there keeping
the spigot at full blast, pumping more water into the system
while bankers desperately try to find the least leaky balance.
What’s required is a new bucket that bankers view
as strong, sturdy, and large enough to handle the volume.
The most likely candidate is the Chinese renminbi…
but not yet.
China’s economy is set to be the largest in the world
in a matter of years, and it has the money supply to match.
While its economic and monetary fundamentals are far, far
from perfect, China is arguably in a much better financial
position than the west.
It’s going to take several years for the renminbi
to overtake the dollar, euro, and yen as a serious contender
for the world’s main reserve currency… but it
can happen. The major roadblock is that China’s renminbi
is not free-floating– the government has imposed severe
exchange controls.
I’ve written before that we are seeing the early
signs of relaxing controls. China doesn’t do anything
overnight, and I think there is a long-term plan in the
works.
We have already seen China agree with other sovereign nations
to introduce currency swap arrangements, so there are now
several countries holding renminbi. Furthermore, the Hong
Kong gold exchange recently announced its plans to launch
a new gold contract denominated in renminbi.
To be clear, China already has its own gold exchange, but
having one in Hong Kong opens up renminbi-denominated gold
contracts to the entire world since Hong Kong has no exchange
controls.
On that note, the mainland authorized Hong Kong’s
banks to establish cross-border settlement accounts in renminbi
last year, effectively providing a way for people to open
a renminbi bank account. In fact, we have one.
Each of these measures to reduce exchange controls is one
step closer to the renminbi being introduced as a global
reserve currency.
Perhaps the most obvious step, though, came in just the
last few days. Beijing has already allowed several multinational
companies like McDonald’s and Caterpillar to issue
renminbi denominated bonds. Now the World Bank, that unfortunate
staple of the financial system, is issuing its own two-year
renminbi bond.
This is a big deal… and I think that we’re
going to continue to see bigger and bigger steps like this
taken throughout 2011 and the coming years.
China’s government has been very clear that by 2020,
it wants Shanghai to be a leading global financial center…
and Chinese policymakers know that for Shanghai to be a
financial center, the renminbi must be freely convertible.
Make no mistake, my friend, the deadline has been set…
and if you haven’t started making decisions to preserve
your capital, I strongly urge you to start now. More to
follow.