Citi has expanded its offshore RMB investment offering into several African countries. 

The RMB solution, which includes RMB accounts, payments and collections capabilities, trade services and financing, foreign exchange, hedging solutions and custody services, will now be available in Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Kenya and Zambia. 

The move is meant to empower clients to capitalise on opportunities presented by the growth of inflows between China and Africa. RMB flows accounted for 8.7 per cent of total payments processed between the Africa, China and Hong Kong as of July 2012, up from 5.2 per cent in January.

In addition to the expanded coverage, Citi announced that it has joined the City of London Initiative on London as a centre for RMB business, demonstrating the city's growing importance as a key offshore centre for RMB transactions.

Since the start of the year, Citi saw a 40 per cent rise in London-generated RMB transactions. The number of UK-domiciled RMB accounts opened with Citi also went up by over 80 per cent.