1 in 4 Taiwan corporations now making payments and receipts through offshore RMB accounts

The percentage is ahead of Asia Pacific’s other offshore RMB hubs.

Taiwan-based companies are increasingly making payments and collecting receipts through offshore Chinese renminbi (RMB) accounts.

According to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch-SunGard Asia Pacific Treasury Management Barometer survey, 24 percent of polled treasurers in Taiwan are currently making payments and collecting receipts through an offshore RMB (CNY) account.

Here's more from BofAML:

As business ties with Mainland China evolve and China’s currency becomes more prominent in the global economy and research shows that Taiwan-based treasurers will further embrace CNY for both payments and receivables purposes.

In addition to those respondents who do not currently make payments and collect receipts through a CNY account, 29 percent of Taiwan-based treasurers indicated that they are interested in and exploring opening a CNY account.

Significantly, the percentage of Taiwan companies making payments and collecting receipts through a CNY account is ahead of Asia Pacific’s other offshore RMB hubs, Hong Kong (23%) and Singapore (18%). The 24 percent of Taiwan companies utilizing CNY is also significantly higher than the regional average of 16% and ahead of other peers in both China (20%) and Japan (17%).

“As treasury practices continue to evolve and business connections with Mainland China further solidify, Taiwan treasurers will increasingly embrace CNY as a strategic currency for both payments and receipts,” said Kitty Yen, Head of Treasury Sales for Taiwan.

“Outside present and future expectations of broad RMB usage, the results of the inaugural Asia Pacific Treasury Management Barometer reveal that Taiwan companies are also amongst the region’s progressive as measured by cash visibility, account rationalization and technology adoption.”

· Improving cash visibility: Taiwan-based treasurers pinpoint cash visibility as a primary focus in the coming 12 to 24 months, with 72 percent identifying this trend as a priority compared to 60 percent in Asia Pacific.

· Rationalizing bank accounts: Of respondents, 47 percent of surveyed Taiwan treasurers identify rationalization of bank accounts as a key priority, compared to the weighted Asia Pacific average of 38 percent. Additionally, 30 percent Taiwan treasurers plan to decrease the number of primary cash management banks regionally in the coming 12 to 24 months.

· Forefront of Technology Adoption: Taiwan treasurers are ahead of their Asia Pacific peers in terms of next generation technology adoption with 11 percent of respondents utilizing hosted or cloud-based solutions for treasury management compared to the regional average of under 10 percent.

The results were framed by the opinions of over 900 treasurers and treasury professionals, who were asked to identify business priorities, pinpoint market challenges and emerging trends.

The survey was conducted in the first quarter of 2013. Respondents to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch SunGard Asia Pacific Treasury Barometer represented companies across 14 industries across Asia Pacific, and also included opinions from treasurers covering the region from Europe and North America.

Survey respondents represented companies of all revenue sizes. Approximately 60 percent of respondents considered themselves mid-market companies with less than $1 billion in annual sales. Twenty-five percent of respondents’ companies post revenues in the $1-10 billion category, while 15 percent had annual sales above $10 billion.

To help ensure relevance to Asia Pacific treasurers and treasury professionals, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and SunGard drew upon their respective regional and global strengths to frame the content and identify key themes when developing the survey.