[Hong Kong company registration]A negligible number of Hong Kong businesses are using offshore yuan loans due to limited channels, while more companies will consider using the currency for trade settlement in the future, a private survey showed.

Outstanding yuan loans in Hong Kong lenders totaled 70 billion yuan (US$11 billion) by November, lagging behind the overall development of the offshore yuan market. Yuan deposits rose to 570 billion yuan during the same period, while outstanding "dim sum" bonds reached 400 billion yuan, Singapore-based DBS Bank said in a report yesterday. The survey was done with 211 companies between October and December.

[Set Up Company Hong Kong]About 9 percent of the companies surveyed by DBS have settled payments in yuan last year, while 26 percent said they may use the yuan to pay this year.

"We expect yuan use by companies to rise as channels increase for the yuan to flow back," Chris Leung, senior economist at DBS in Hong Kong, said yesterday.[Hong Kong Company Formation]