The New Development Bank (NDB) founded by the BRICS nations held a seminar at Shanghai Clearing House July 12 on the use of the “Panda Bond” market for international development finance, and “the development of Shanghai as an international financial center,” according to a release on its website. The NDB has raised RMB47.5 billion (about $6.8 billion) in the Panda market (Panda Bonds are those issued in RMB on China’s bond market by non-Chinese financial institutions), and NDB’s vice president and CFO Monale Ratsoma told the seminar, “The China Interbank Bond Market is crucial for NDB’s funding operations.”