China Construction Bank, the world's second-largest lender by market value, issued its first yuan-denominated "dim sum" bond of 1 billion yuan ($159 million) in London on Wednesday, the bank said in a press release on Friday.

It is the first time a Chinese bank has issued a yuan-denominated bond outside China.

The three-year dim sum notes were sold with a yield of 3.2 percent, the bank said. The money raised will be used to help its London subsidiary develop its offshore yuan business.

CCB said: "We would like to further extend our cross-border yuan business, and try to play a bigger role in London's development into an offshore yuan market, and the process of yuan internationalization."

HSBC issued the first such bond of 2 billion yuan in April, while ANZ Banking Group issued a 1 billion yuan three-year dim sum bond in August.