The Chinese central bank’s heavy-handed intervention in the currency markets earlier this year has triggered a decline in trading of the renminbi and a reversal in the rise of the Rmb in international payments.
The proportion of payments denominated in Rmb fell from 2.09% in June 2015 to 1.98% in June 2017, according to the SWIFT Rmb Tracker.
Meanwhile, daily average turnover in the Chinese currency in London totaled $34 billion in April, a decline of 15% from October, when the Rmb was included for the first time in the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Right basket. Trading of the Rmb in New York fell by more than 25% in the same period.
Swift says that 98% of payments sent from the US to China by volume are in dollars. The Rmb’s share of payments remains low for all countries—between 1% and 2%—with the exception of Taiwan, where 15% of payments are in Rmb.
The Swift network fully supports global Rmb transactions, and its messaging services enable communication in Chinese characters. Swift provides 16 major Chinese banks’ customers with a same-day payment experience around the world.
