Panda bond issuance subscription soars in the first quarter; domestic financing environment's attractiveness continues to rise

With multiple factors such as the domestic financing cost advantage, the continuous promotion of institutional opening-up, and the increasing demand for RMB asset allocation, the Panda bond market continues to heat up. As of March 20, 2026, the issuance volume of Panda bonds for the year reached 77.94B yuan, a 96.8% increase compared to the same period last year, with new changes in issuer structure, maturity structure, and market functions. The ongoing enthusiasm in the Panda bond market is primarily due to the attractiveness of the domestic financing environment. Liang Huaxin, an analyst from the China Securities Pengyuan International Business Rating Department, told reporters that the current active Panda bond market can be summarized as a resonance of three factors: “favorable timing, advantageous geography, and harmonious human factors.” “Favorable timing” refers to China’s relatively loose monetary environment and the prominent advantage of RMB financing costs; “advantageous geography” means that China continues to promote two-way opening of the financial market, constantly improving the Panda bond issuance system and infrastructure, reducing issuance friction costs; “harmonious human factors” indicate that under the low-interest-rate environment, investors’ demand for high-quality RMB assets has significantly increased. (Shanghai Securities News)