News about international payments

PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng estimated the yuan's share of international payments by value at 6% to 7% as of Oct. 19, ranking it third worldwide under a broader measure. His estimate includes cross-border and offshore payments, including amounts settled within banks or through CIPS, whereas Swift data put the yuan at about 3% to 4% and fifth place. Swift's September tracker showed the yuan fifth by value in August with a 3.26% share, and sixth outside the eurozone at 2.38%. The two measures cover different sets of activity, so they do not show a change in rank for the same payments. Pan also proposed a pilot allowing eight Chinese and foreign banks to trade for their own accounts in the interbank FX market, as an initial step toward linking onshore and offshore markets.