Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe • Hacker News Board

Re: Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe

#161

Post by wuschel » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

pizzathyme wrote: post #22

The US wields incredible negotiating power and hegemony because the dollar is the world’s reserve currency. Like the British pound and the Dutch guilder before it, if that loses reserve currency status it will be harder to borrow on favorable terms, which would affect the entire US economy. This is a big step in that perhaps starting to happen over the next few decades.

How come Deutsche Bank, a German bank, is the first bank doing this? And why now? Is it because the less friendly political stance towards Europe from the US side that the tables have turned a bit?

I also wonder how much political backing a bank needs to offer a service with the implications towards the status of an allied currency as reserve currency status - small as it may be for now.

Re: Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe

#162

Post by jmuguy » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

codedokode wrote: post #113

jillesvangurp wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One consequence of the transition to renewable energy and electrified transport, is that oil imports will start to decline. And the dollar is of course the currency of choice for that. The US economy and other countries that export fossil fuels will feel the impact over the next decade or so. The energy transition might go a lot quicker than people seem to expect. Currently about 20% of global car sales is electric.…

What's good in electric cars? If a large power plant is destroyed how are you going to charge your electric car to escape?

I hope its strictly an American fantasy to think you're driving out of anywhere when something like that happens.

Buy a bicycle.

Re: Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe

#163

Post by elzbardico » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

WJW wrote: post #65

pizzathyme wrote: post #22

The US wields incredible negotiating power and hegemony because the dollar is the world’s reserve currency. Like the British pound and the Dutch guilder before it, if that loses reserve currency status it will be harder to borrow on favorable terms, which would affect the entire US economy. This is a big step in that perhaps starting to happen over the next few decades.

I think this has the causality reversed. The dollar is the world's reserve currency because the US wields incredible negotiating power and has been the de facto military hegemony in the past few decades. It seems likely that the dominance the US has enjoyed in the recent past will diminish somewhat as other blocks with larger population bases catch up on the technology and industrialization fronts, and eventually sta…

US Military has been a paper tiger in reality for quite some time. The problem is that Trump decided to demonstrate this in practice.

It is becoming obvious for gulf countries that US military protection is worth nothing.

Re: Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe

#164

Post by RandomLensman » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

TacticalCoder wrote: post #138

decimalenough wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The yuan will never become a reserve currency as long as China maintain tight currency controls around importing and exporting it. It's very difficult to (legally) send CNY out or China. The euro is in a much better position to be adopted as an alternative, but its share of global reserves has been flat at around 20% for years. https://data.imf.org/en/news/imf%20data%20brief%20march%2027

> The euro is in a much better position to be adopted as an alternative, but its share of global reserves has been flat at around 20% for years. The Euro is only 25 years old: it would be pure folly to make the "reserve currency" something that recent. Then... One country of the eurozone already partially defaulted on its public debt (Greece, in 2015). And France is running an insane deficit: so bad that there are no…

There is no serious talk on the IMF taking control of French public finances.

The spread between France OAT and German Bunds is less than 100bps.

The French annual budget deficit is lower than the projected US one.

Re: Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe

#165

Post by noir_lord » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

spwa4 wrote: post #107

MichaelZuo wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deutche Bank I imagine is doing this because a significant fraction of their customers literally want to park their money in yuan? If it was some rounding error they wouldn’t have bothered spending money to set it up and get all the clearances.

It seems worth mentioning that this allows DB to allow Yuan transactions to happen, bypassing any US sanctions. Since DB is not doing this without agreement from the German government and the ECB, this can be taken as an indication that they intend to do business with China the US does not approve of. At least, they want the option. (and yes, it does not mean that the US is entirely without options to hinder China tr…

> this can be taken as an indication that they intend to do business with China the US does not approve of. At least, they want the option.

Indeed, it also acts as a counter balance/hedge against the US's demands in the future.

The problem for Europe is simply that we need to trade with both sides fairly openly or our entire economic model collapses - We are massively dependent on US technology and Chinese industrial capacity - too dependent frankly.

Re: Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe

#166

Post by Markoff » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

vrganj wrote: post #140

Markoff wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's actually "kuai" (pronounced same way as popular incorrect name of famous The Bridge on the River Kwai (the correct name is K(h)waE)) in Chinese streets, if you use yuan or renmimbi you will sound like you pretend to be some snobbish TV news host I don't think I've ever used anywhere in street, shop or restaurant yuan/renmimbi, at least not in Beijing and around, some people may use yuan, hardly anyone renmimbi h…

As a Western analogy, GBP has similar levels of formality: Reminbi ~= Pound Sterling Yuan ~= Pound Kuai ~= Quid

Is quid really used in UK by 80-90% people? I thought it's very informal slang word (of some lower educated people), in China most of the people just use kuai (well I guess not bank tellers).

Re: Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe

#167

Post by pocksuppet » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

tgv wrote: post #160

baggachipz wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It means that nations are beginning to abandon (or at least hedge against) the dollar as the world's currency, due to the host nation's instability and global political situation. "Great Again", indeed.

Idk why you say so, but the Deutsche Bank is not a national bank.

they didn't say it was

Re: Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe

#168

Post by elzbardico » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

ForHackernews wrote: post #44

smalllangmodel wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope this is one step into a more multipolar world, maybe without a single hegemon the world is easier to change for the better

Historically a more multipolar world has been a more violent and chaotic world, but maybe this time will be better.

The monopolar world has been incredibly violent and chaotic for everyone else but the west.

Re: Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe

#169

Post by roryirvine » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

username_my1 wrote: post #45

pizzathyme wrote: post #22

The US wields incredible negotiating power and hegemony because the dollar is the world’s reserve currency. Like the British pound and the Dutch guilder before it, if that loses reserve currency status it will be harder to borrow on favorable terms, which would affect the entire US economy. This is a big step in that perhaps starting to happen over the next few decades.

This whole house of card is very modern, there was no such thing as "Reserve currency" not even the British pound, it was the most traded currency. but holding a currency's (debt) as a foreign reserve instead of gold is very recent phenomena, even central banks reserves or their function is also rather modern phenomena. while Yuan usage in trade will reduce the US influence, the amount of assets held in dollar nomina…

The pound did act that way to some extent, but only within the Sterling Area and only between 1931 to 1972.

Prior to that, people might have talked about the pound as if it were a reserve currency in the same way the USD is today but, as you say, actual foreign reserves were based on gold.

Re: Deutsche Bank becomes first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe

#170

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 1:49 PM UTC

thelastgallon wrote: post #93

jillesvangurp wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One consequence of the transition to renewable energy and electrified transport, is that oil imports will start to decline. And the dollar is of course the currency of choice for that. The US economy and other countries that export fossil fuels will feel the impact over the next decade or so. The energy transition might go a lot quicker than people seem to expect. Currently about 20% of global car sales is electric.…

Demand destruction will collapse profits and accelerate the oil/dollar downfall. Saudi Arabia can profitably pump oil probably under $10/barrel. If demand drops, thats where oil should be. China with [EVs|Solar|BESS|Turbines] will replace all of the fossil fuel countries (US, middle-east, Russia). This is probably the biggest transition in the history of mankind. This is energy production, storage and all the applian…

Saudi Arabia needs oil prices at ~$86.60/barrel to balance their budget, per Bloomberg. It is not the marginal cost to pump a barrel, but what a country needs to support their sticky spending from previously assured energy exports. Governments will collapse long before we approach low single digit oil prices on the global market.

The World Is Awash With Oil and Prices Are Poised to Keep Falling - https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-global-oil-supply-pr... | https://archive.today/hkhtI - December 18th, 2025 (Control -F "Crude Price Forecasts Are Below Levels Needed for Budgets")

> China with [EVs|Solar|BESS|Turbines] will replace all of the fossil fuel countries (US, middle-east, Russia). This is probably the biggest transition in the history of mankind. This is energy production, storage and all the appliances that use electricity. After this, its incredibly hard for any other country to compete.

Strongly agree. China is replacing petrostate economic demand with demand for their clean tech products, which keeps their deflationary economy afloat, provides them soft power, and will transition the yuan to a global reserve currency. Today countries by dollars to by petroleum ("petrodollar"); tomorrow, countries will want yuan to buy "manufacturing fiat," to trade with the world's factory (China is 1/3rd of global manufacturing capacity, as of this comment). Stocks of assets vs flows of energy.