Chinese renminbi onshore bonds are being included in the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index for the first time, in a move which is likely to make them more attractive to global fixed income investors and deepen the investor base.

The Global Aggregate Index is a flagship measure of global investment grade debt from local currency markets, and includes treasuries, government related debt, corporate bonds, and securitizations from both developed and emerging markets issuers.

As a first step, Bloomberg Barclays is creating a parallel Global Aggregate Index including onshore renminbi bonds – while also preserving the existing Global Aggregate Index that excludes them. Bloomberg acquired the indexing business of Barclays in 2016. For an initial five years indices will be co-branded as Bloomberg Barclays Indices.

FTSE equity indices have included Chinese equities in their emerging markets index for several years, but also take the approach of a parallel index, by having one index without Chinese equities and one with.

Thus far, leading global indices providers such as MSCI and JP Morgan indices have not included Chinese onshore bonds in their indices, though this could happen this year or next. The move would be positive for issuers of onshore renminbi bonds. Once they are included in global benchmark indices, many fixed income fund managers around the world will more or less be obliged to add them to their portfolios. Many fixed income managers are already doing this in anticipation of the change. Over the past year, China has been making foreign access to its interbank bond market easier.

Meanwhile in the offshore dollar market in January, Asian issuers ex-Japan ex-onshore China broke a new record with 39 deals, according to data from Dealogic. This surpassed the previous record of US$24.4 billion for January 2015. The pipeline was partly influenced by the Chinese New Year, with issuers rushing to come to market ahead of the holiday period.