China will double down on its support for Hong Kong as a global hub for the offshore yuan, with Beijing’s top market regulator saying that the city could soon begin offering trading of yuan-denominated treasury bond futures.

Beijing would support Hong Kong launching five-year treasury bond futures in the near term, making it easier for overseas investors to put long-term asset allocations into yuan assets, said Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) at the annual Lujiazui financial forum in Shanghai on Wednesday.

His comment indicates that the much hoped-for financial derivative product may materialise soon after lengthy regulatory discussions. An official launch could help Beijing achieve its ambition of yuan internationalisation amid the diminishing role of the US dollar, while solidifying Hong Kong’s status as a financial hub and the world’s biggest centre for offshore yuan transactions.

“The listing of [government] bond futures in Hong Kong has been discussed for a long time,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management in Hong Kong. “The announcement at the Lujiazui conference indicates the listing will likely happen soon. It would be a meaningful step forward to promote the offshore renminbi market.”

Demand for yuan assets has been rising as Middle East hostilities and fiscal stress on the US government prompt global investors to diversify from the US dollar. The yield on China’s benchmark 10-year government bond traded at a multi-year low of around 1.7 per cent recently, while the yuan strengthened to the highest level against the US dollar in three years.

Beijing is also likely to give selective Hong Kong companies the nod to raise funds on the mainland’s stock markets as a way of strengthening the stock connection schemes that facilitate cross-border capital flows, CSRC’s Wu also said at the forum.