HSBC Holdings Plc <0005.HK>, which last month became one of the first foreign banks allowed to issue Chinese currency bonds in Hong Kong, said on Wednesday it is also preparing for yuan bond issuance in China.

While HSBC is extremely liquid and strongly capitalized, we seek to help establish a representative pricing benchmark and support the development of the RMB financial markets, both onshore and offshore, David Liao, managing director and head of global markets at HSBC China, said in an e-mailed statement.

Earlier on Wednesday, rival Standard Chartered Bank <2888.HK> said it planned to raise up to 3.5 billion yuan ($512.5 million) selling yuan bonds in China.

(US$1=6.832 Yuan)

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Edmund Klamann)

Investment HSBC China