China’s long march towards global financial integration appeared to take a step sideways with the recent decision by MSCI to postpone including domestic A-shares in its family of global equity indices. The pause will allow for some regulatory plumbing and access fixes, and in no way derails China’s increasing influence in global financial markets.

The renminbi is now the fifth-largest currency in global payments, according to financial telecoms provider Swift. The board of the International Monetary Fund will determine this autumn whether the renminbi is ready to be included in the fund's special drawing rights line-up. Other Asian countries already hold the renminbi in their foreign exchange reserves.