After a fast rise to prominence and becoming the fifth largest payments currency in the world according to SWIFT data, the offshore Chinese renminbi (CNH) has been added to electronic trading platform ParFX.

With the Chinese yuan well on track to displace the Japanese yen from the fourth spot in the coming months, the currency’s quick rise is reshuffling the foreign exchange market. Back in August a move by the People’s Bank of China to devalue the renminbi has prompted a global markets rout, an event that attests to the importance of the Chinese renminbi for the global economy.

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ParFX launched the USD/CNH pair on the 14th of September 2015 following a period of extensive testing after increasing demand from both the founder banks of the electronic trading platform and its customers.

Created by Tradition, the matching mechanism at ParFX is randomizing the order flow, thereby providing a level playing field for all market participants regardless of their size or technological capabilities.

The COO of ParFX Roger Rutherford added: “The number of institutions trading on our platform globally continues to grow, and with our randomized matching engine, firmness of pricing and a truly level playing field for all participants, we believe ParFX offers the benchmark model for an efficient and transparent trading environment.”

Commenting on the announcement the CEO of ParFX, Dan Marcus stated, “The Chinese currency is one of the fastest growing in the world, but is still in the early of stages of its internationalisation.”

“We think now is a prime opportunity to introduce and instill the ‘pure’ ethos of ParFX – transparency, fairness, genuine trading interest and equality in access, market data and fees – to the offshore renminbi before it becomes a major, full-floating currency,” he concluded.

Elaborating on the Asian market for ParFX, Mr Rutherford added, “The addition of the offshore renminbi will significantly strengthen our presence in Asia in particular.”

With the local competition between Japan and China intensifying, virtually all economies in South-East Asia are becoming more reliant on the Chinese renminbi for transactions. The only disruption to this trend, albeit most likely only temporary, could come from an abrupt slowdown of the second largest economy in the world.

According to estimates made by Barclays, the growth forecasts for the Chinese economy have been cut recently to reflect a secular slowdown in investment.