On August 11 2015, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) changed the way it calculates the reference rate around which the Renminbi (RMB) is allowed to trade. They would now calculate the daily central parity, by taking note of FX demand and supply including the closing price in the previous day's trading session. This caused the RMB to devalue by more than 3% against the US dollar in the following three days, reversing the currency’s upward track for a decade. Standard Chartered commissioned Asset Benchmark Research (ABR) to conduct a survey on corporate users of RMB to measure the impact of this recent devaluation in the currency. The survey was designed to provide constructive feedback on RMB usage patterns, operational challenges and the outlook for the currency.

The project took place over a 3-week period from late-October to mid-November 2015 and surveyed 173 treasurers and senior treasury/finance executives from Asia, Europe and the US concerning how they managed the RMB FX risk given the volatility of the currency after August 11. The survey also looked at ...