Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd. will launch the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Offshore RMB Bond Index on December 31, the first offshore renminbi bond index in Hong Kong, the bank said on December 20.

The offshore renminbi bond index includes those offshore renminbi bonds with relatively high liquidity based on a set of pre-defined criteria on constituent bonds selection. This renminbi-denominated bond index is designed to track the total-return performance, including accrued interest as well as capital gains and losses, of offshore renminbi bonds.

The index includes 28 constituent offshore renminbi bonds worth some 54 billion yuan ($8.1 billion) in total, representing around 90 percent of the market universe in terms of value.