Panda bond issuance exceeded 250 billion yuan during the year, setting another record high

Reporter Han Yu

Since the beginning of this year, the panda bond market has continued to expand. Wind data shows that as of November 5, the amount of panda bonds issued during the year reached 251.805 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 58.12%. This data also exceeds the annual issuance amount in 2025 (183.56 billion yuan) and 2024 (194.8 billion yuan), setting a new historical record again. As of that day, the stock of panda bonds reached 535.879 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.31%.

"The scale of Panda bond issuance has reached a new high, which is not only an expansion of financing instruments, but also releases a deep signal that global capital continues to increase its recognition of RMB assets." Yuan Shuai, deputy secretary-general of the Zhongguancun Internet of Things Industry Alliance, said in an interview with a reporter from Securities Daily that many overseas issuers have begun to incorporate panda bonds into their long-term liability management framework, which has directly led to a steady increase in the size of the entire market stock. This change is the result of the continuous improvement of my country's bond market infrastructure, the continuous expansion of cross-border RMB usage scenarios, and the steady highlighting of the value of RMB asset allocation.

While continuing to expand, the panda bond market also shows an increase in the scale of fundraising by foreign issuers. The "China's Balance of Payments Report for the First Half of 2026" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange shows that in recent years, the main structure of panda bond issuance has gradually changed, from the early pilot projects of international institutions and the dominance of overseas Chinese-funded institutions, to the joint participation of overseas Chinese-funded and foreign-funded entities. In the first half of 2026, the fund-raising scale of foreign-funded issuers accounted for 54% of the total fund-raising scale of the panda bond market, exceeding the fund-raising scale of Chinese-funded issuers for the first time.

At the same time, the growth of fund-raising by sovereign issuers accelerated. In the first half of this year, the governments or sovereign wealth funds of Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and other countries successively completed the issuance of their first panda bonds. In the first half of the year, issuers with government backgrounds raised approximately 20 billion yuan, three times the amount raised by such issuers in 2025. Overseas official institutions have gradually increased their financing in the panda bond market.

"The amount of Panda bond issuance reached a new high, and foreign issuers accounted for more than half of the funds raised in the first half of the year, which not only reflects the increasing attractiveness of the RMB as a financing currency, but also reflects the steady expansion of cross-border investment and financing channels. The increase in sovereign issuers further enriches the main structure of the Panda bond market and helps to continue to promote the high-level opening of the bond market." Zhu Hualei, senior investment consultant of Shaanxi Jufeng Investment Information Co., Ltd., said in an interview with a reporter from Securities Daily.

In addition, from the perspective of bond maturity and interest rate, the issuance period of Panda bonds is showing a longer trend. The weighted average issuance period this year is 3.27 years. The interest rate has continued its downward trend in recent years, with the weighted average interest rate being 1.83%.

Yuan Shuai believes that the lengthening of the term structure reflects that issuers have strong expectations for the stability of the long-term RMB financing environment, and are therefore more willing to match their own project operation rhythms through medium and long-term varieties. The continued decline in interest rates has further highlighted the financing cost advantage of panda bonds in major global financing markets.

Looking forward to the follow-up, Zhu Hualei predicts that at the current pace, the issuance of panda bonds this year will most likely reach 300 billion yuan.

The "Report" believes that looking into the future, my country's opening up of cross-border securities investment and financing will continue to deepen. Driven by factors such as the continuous improvement of facilitation policies and the continued advancement of RMB internationalization, overseas entities are expected to maintain a high willingness to issue and allocate panda bonds and promote the steady expansion of the panda bond market. This will help further enhance the financing function of my country's financial market and promote the cross-border use of RMB.