US banks led by Goldman Sachs have borrowed record amounts of Chinese currency this year, tapping the offshore renminbi debt market to raise low-cost funding as Beijing makes it easier for mainland investors to buy Hong Kong-listed fixed-income products. Total issuance of "dim sum" bonds — renminbi-denominated debt sold outside mainland China, mostly in Hong Kong — has hit 300 billion yuan (44 billion dollars) so far this year, more than double the same point in 2025, itself a record year. Self-led issuance by US banks has reached 47.5 billion yuan, with Goldman making up the majority.
Goldman has become the largest foreign issuer of dim sum bonds and the second-largest issuer overall after the state-owned Bank of China, with 32.1 billion yuan issued this year — about 10% of total issuance. Isaac Wong, Goldman's head of fixed income distribution for Asia ex-Japan, said the market provides "an attractive alternative source of funding". The bank swaps the renminbi proceeds into dollars and hedges currency risk; the money is not used for mainland China operations (capital controls apart, offshore-raised renminbi is not subject to China's strict cross-border rules). Other April issuers include Portugal, Finland's MuniFin, the Korea Development Bank, the Nordic Investment Bank, and the Swedish Export Credit Corporation.
The driver is a yield gap. China's 10-year government bond trades at around 1.75%, pushing Chinese institutional investors — insurers, pensions — toward higher-yielding offshore products after Beijing broadened Bond Connect last year. Goldman's 10-year dim sum bond carries a 3% coupon. At the same time, yields on Japan's 10-year government bond have risen to more than 2.4% from 0.61% at the start of 2024, removing the yen's historic role as the world's cheapest funding currency. "The offshore renminbi has become a major funding currency for lack of a better option", said Alicia García-Herrero of Natixis. Source: Financial Times, 24 April 2026, William Sandlund.