Bonjour.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about Canada's new RMB hub for North America. I applaud the committee's interest in the hub and particularly in diving into the potential opportunities that the hub affords for Canada's economy.
British Columbia, back in 2012, assumed an early leadership position among provinces in identifying that the creation of an RMB hub in Canada had huge and positive potential for Canada's trade and investment relationship with China. The fact that this was of interest to British Columbia and that B.C. was one of the first ones to identify this probably reflects our significant and growing trade relationship with China and also the fact that we both live on the Pacific and have had demographics and people exchanges going back many generations.
As B.C.'s trade with China grew and since it wanted to develop a closer financial and economic relationship with China, the province became the first foreign government to issue an offshore renminbi bond in late 2013. This provided an important and strategic validation of the international use of RMB. The bond issue was an overwhelming and global success with buyers from Asia, North America, and Europe participating.
Throughout 2014 the British Columbia government, led by Finance Minister de Jong and staff, collaborated with the Governments of Ontario and Canada as well as with industry to consider the merit of an RMB hub in Canada. In late 2014 the province issued another RMB-denominated bond in the offshore capital market. This time it was also received with great success by buyers again from Asia, North America, the Middle East, and Europe. We now have the largest outstanding bond issue by a foreign government, matching that by the United Kingdom, with a three billion RMB bond equivalent to about $550 million.
As the speakers before me have noted, in November Canada was designated an RMB trading hub for North America. I would echo Hendrik and Peter in congratulating the federal government for providing this leadership in positioning Canada to diversify its trade.
The B.C. government was certainly very supportive of this designation, which as you know includes an RMB settlement and clearing centre operated by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as well as a quota to permit qualified Canadian fund managers to invest in mainland bonds and equities on behalf of clients.
It's important to reiterate that the RMB hub is not a place; it's a way of doing RMB-denominated business, trade, banking, and investment. The location of the clearing centre does not define the hub. Indeed it must be a pan-Canadian initiative that seeks to engage Canadian business across the country. I think that's what the Government of Canada with the People's Bank of China has created here in Canada.
The creation of the hub recognizes that the RMB is important internationally and that the international use of this currency is proceeding very quickly. China is now the second-largest economy in the world. It's on the path to becoming the largest. It is already the largest trading nation. The use of RMB has been growing exponentially since the early 2000s. Currently 10.5% of China's trade is settled in RMB. HSBC forecasts that could increase to 30% by 2015 or over $1 trillion USD equivalent.
The designation of Canada as an RMB trading hub certainly does play to British Columbia's strength as the Canadian province that trades most with China. Our exports represent about 30% of Canada's total exports, or $6.6 billion in 2013, and it does hold tremendous potential for B.C. business.
Hendrik articulated very well and in a very compelling way the business case for the hub and for the opportunity it affords to Canadian businesses. The only thing I would add to the study findings from the Chamber of Commerce is that, as noted, exports were expected to increase in the range of $21 billion to $32 billion over the next 10 years, and British Columbia, as the leading exporter to China among provinces, will likely be a significant winner with an additional expected $9.4 billion in exports over the 10 years. The lion's share of these export gains would be expected to occur in the more competitive resource sectors, particularly forestry.
Over the next couple of years the British Columbia government will continue collaboration with the Government of Ontario, the federal government, and industry. Really, a big part of our initiative that we see as necessary is marketing the hub to business as well as educating Canadian business on how to engage with Chinese counterparties in productive RMB trade and investment.
We have formed an informal steering committee with the Province of Ontario, Ontario finance; with AdvantageBC, which is a financial institutions group out of Vancouver; as well as with the Toronto Financial Services Alliance. Here we want to promote private sector use of the RMB as well as foster private sector leadership for a Canadian hub.
We will be supporting the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China—