Chinese underwriters are losing out to international banks in a record year for issuance of yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong. That's as companies seek arrangers that are able to attract the most global investors.

Bank of China Ltd, which managed the most dim sum bond sales last year, slumped to 15th place, while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd slid to 20th from fourth, data compiled by Bloomberg show. HSBC Holdings PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and JPMorgan Chase & Co are the top three arrangers.

"I have a standing instruction for my team that anyone who speaks Mandarin has to come to Hong Kong," said Augusto King, co-head of debt capital markets for Asia at RBS, the No 2 arranger of sales this year after not being ranked in 2010. "We're expecting a lot more Chinese corporates to tap this market."

This year's offerings touched 41.2 billion yuan ($6.3 billion) compared with 35.7 billion yuan in 2010, when sales were dominated by State-owned lenders. Dim sum bond sales may rise to 150 billion yuan this year as global investors bet on the yuan appreciating more than currencies of the other so-called BRIC nations, according to estimates from London-based HSBC.

The debt pays an average yield of 2.352 percent compared with 4.642 percent for one- to three-year corporate bonds in Shanghai, HSBC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes show. Similar maturity US corporate bonds yield on average 1.6 percent, according to Bank of America indexes.