Central Moneymarkets Unit

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) established the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU) in 1990 to provide computerised clearing and settlement facilities for Exchange Fund Bills and Notes. In December 1993, the HKMA extended the service to other Hong Kong dollar debt securities. It offers an efficient, safe and convenient clearing and custodian system for Hong Kong dollar debt instruments. Since December 1994, the CMU has been linked with other regional and international systems.  This helps to promote Hong Kong dollar debt securities to overseas investors who can make use of these links to participate in the Hong Kong dollar debt market.

The CMU service was further extended to non-Hong Kong dollar debt securities in January 1996.  In December 1996, a seamless interface between the CMU and the Hong Kong dollar Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) interbank payment system was established. This enables the CMU system to provide real-time and end-of-day Delivery versus Payment (DvP) services to its members.  

The CMU was further linked to the US dollar, euro and Renminbi RTGS systems in December 2000, April 2003 and March 2006 respectively to provide real time DvP capability for debt securities denominated in those currencies and also intraday and overnight repo facilities for the US dollar and euro payment systems in Hong Kong.

The key point is that according to the definitive Hong Kong Payment Systems document there is no central counterparty whether named a Central Bank or not.

The Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU) is a membership entity; acts as a custodian; provides no guarantee; and takes no credit risk. (see pages 122 onwards).

As you know, a custodian is a key element of the P2P finance architecture I advocate.

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson