The Internationalization of the RMB
MUMBAI, December 1, 2010 - Romnesh Lamba, Executive Vice President and Head of Market Development at Hong Kong Exchanges (KHEx) and Clearing Limited, shared his views on the internationalization of the RMB and Hong Kong as an offshoring centre with Asia Society corporate members and patrons, as part of the BASIC (Breakfast at Asia Society India Centre) series.
Lamba explained China's strategy as it sought to make the RMB an international reserve currency with convertibility, through a controlled internationalization process that used Hong Kong. (View his presentation here.)
Lamba is also a member of the HKEx Senior Management Committee, in which role he spearheads HKEx's strategy and development initiatives under the Market Development Division. The Market Development Division focuses on capturing future China opportunities in both primary and secondary markets, broadening HKEx's international issuer base, assessing new product and Information Technology development concepts, and enhancing the competitiveness of HKEx's market structure and market systems.
Lamba has 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. He worked in the US for nine years before moving to Hong Kong in 1994. Since November 2008, Lamba was a Senior Advisor to JP Morgan's Asia ex-Japan Investment Banking and Capital Markets business, with strategic and operating responsibilities. He has also worked at Merrill-Lynch Asia Pacific for eight years as a Managing Director, where he led the firm's regional Energy and Power investment banking group and served as the Chief Operating Officer of the firm's China Origination business. At Merrill Lynch, Lamba was involved in several landmark listings of Mainland enterprises in Hong Kong.