RMB Offshore Financial Centers as Institutional Complexes: A Legal‐Institutionalist Perspective

This paper explores the conceptual foundations for classifying Renminbi Offshore Financial Centers (RMB OFCs) as institutions, drawing upon insights from New Institutional Economics (NEI), International Relations (IR), and legal theory. Although “institution” remains theoretically contested, the analysis demonstrates that RMB OFCs meet the definitional criteria advanced by broad and integrative institutionalist traditions. Far from being reducible to isolated rules or discrete organizational units, RMB OFCs constitute institutional complexes—cohesive configurations in which rules and organizations operate in a mutually reinforcing manner. From the perspective of Chinese authorities, these centers are conceived as deliberate governance structures that serve to internationalize the renminbi while preserving policy autonomy over capital controls and exchange rate mechanisms. By examining how various theoretical traditions conceptualize the relationship between rules and organizations, the study shows that RMB OFCs—similarly to U.S. Dollar Offshore Financial Centers (USD OFCs)—transcend conventional dichotomies and demand an interpretive framework capable of capturing their hybrid, transnational, and evolving institutional character. The paper concludes that recognizing RMB OFCs—and, by extension, USD OFCs—as institutional complexes, understood as integrated arrangements of rules and organizations, not only enhances conceptual precision but also offers a robust analytical lens for understanding China’s evolving role in the transformation of global financial governance.