Bank of East Asia (China) has issued 4 billion yuan (US$586 million) of yuan-backed bonds in Hong Kong, at the upper-end of its allowed quota as sales have been hot.

The bank is the first Chinese mainland-incorporated overseas bank to issue yuan bonds in Hong Kong to both individual and institutional investors.

The bank accepted investors' bidding between June 30 and July 17. The two-year bond bears an annual interest of 2.8 percent.

About 70 percent of the bonds were sold to retail investors while the remaining 30 percent were allocated to institutional investors.

(Shanghai Daily July 22, 2009)