A bank staff member checks RMB banknotes at a bank in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu province, Jan. 7, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced Wednesday that it will be including its renminbi (RMB) financial investments as part of its Official Foreign Reserves (OFR) from June 2016 onwards.

This move recognises the steady and calibrated liberalisation of China's financial markets, and the growing acceptance of renminbi assets in the global portfolio of institutional investors, MAS said in a statement.

Since 2012, MAS has been making renminbi financial investments through China's Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor and interbank bond market schemes. Investing in China has provided portfolio diversification benefits.

Over the past year, China has taken significant steps to liberalise access to its foreign exchange and securities markets for foreign institutional investors.

In November last year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that the renminbi met the criterion of a freely usable currency and would therefore be included in the SDR basket with effect from October 1, 2016.

"The inclusion of renminbi assets in MAS' OFR is timely. China's calibrated financial liberalisation in the past year has encouraged growing international acceptance of the renminbi," said Jacqueline Loh, MAS deputy managing director.