The central bank-led operator of China's interbank foreign exchange market is forming a pilot for yuan futures trading and accelerating research on the new product, a state-backed newspaper quoted the head of the group as saying on Wednesday. Zhang Yi, president of the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), told the Shanghai Securities News the group was assessing how yuan futures trading could impact macroeconomic and monetary policy operations. In the future, the CFETS will look into how to design the mechanism, construct the system and set its rules for the pilot, she said. Her comments come after a former senior official at China's foreign exchange regulator in June advocated the swift introduction of yuan futures trading, saying it could improve hedging in a currency market where the recent trend of yuan appreciation has been shaped by a "herd effect". A working paper published in April by researchers from the People's Bank of China had also called for the creation of a yuan futures market to help investors better hedge against currency risks. China has already introduced foreign exchange derivatives, including forwards, currency swaps and options. Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Lincoln Feast. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.