The Agricultural Bank of China, the country's fourth-largest lender by market value, issued its first-ever green bond on Tuesday, raising almost US$1 billion as part of a "broader Beijing-orchestrated campaign to tackle pollution and promote renewable energy", FinanceAsia reports. ABC sold the bond in three tranches: a US$400 million three-year note, a US$500 million five-year bond, and a RMB600 million (US$95 million) two-year issue. The single-A rated ABC priced the three-year and five-year dollar offerings at US Treasuries plus 120 and 140 basis points, respectively, while the renminbi-denominated bond was priced to yield 4.15 per cent. The recent volatility amongst Asian currencies has opened up opportunities for foreign exchange services providers to move beyond "one dimensional" spot FX trades, according to a research note from banking analysts East & Partners. The firm polled almost 2000 small businesses on their use of hedging products such as FX forwards and options across four regional markets: Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia. East found that, overall, the use of FX forwards and options had increased by several percentage points across the board, and by up to ten per cent in Singapore in the past two years. The average wallet share for primary providers in the spot market had correspondingly fallen by three percentage points to a region-wide low of 18.6 per cent since August 2013, East said.