The London based financial think thank OMFIF carried out an 11-day tour of Asia on 14-25 July encompassing six financial centres. The tour benefited from 48 top-level conversations among them heads of central banks and sovereign funds, other senior government and central bank officials, leading investors, pension funds, economists and academics. OMFIF concludes that the renminbi is part of a multiple reserve currency system already. One Chinese official said that the renminbi could succeed internationally only if it was a 'quality currency', which could point towards some form a gold backing in the future - According to OMFIF's monthly newsletter the number of countries holding renminbi in their official reserves has risen to around 40. And most important from our point of view, the US and the IMF appear to be moving towards acceptance that the renminbi could form part of a "redrawn version of the IMF's Special Drawing Rights", which could replace the dollar as the world reserve currency one day.

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