China digital currency: Bank of China completes cross-border settlement for precious metals trading using e-CNY

The BOC transferred 100 million yuan from an overseas buyer, depositing the funds as digital yuan into a Shanghai Gold Exchange account
Since 2019, Beijing has been ramping up efforts to expand the project, officially named Digital Currency Electronic Payment, abroad

China digital currency

Coco Fengin Beijing

Published: 7:00pm, 21 Dec 2023

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China has been expanding the use of its sovereign digital currency in cross-border businesses, with the state-owned Bank of China completing the first cross-border settlement for precious metals trading.

The bank’s Shanghai branch transferred 100 million yuan (US$14 million) in cash from an overseas buyer, depositing the funds as digital yuan into an account under the Shanghai Gold Exchange, according to a Wednesday report by state-run newspaper Shanghai Securities News, citing a representative of the branch.

The settlement was co-conducted with the bank’s Hong Kong unit, the representative said.

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BOC has facilitated other cross-border transactions recently, including 24 million yuan in e-CNY transactions from state-owned Baowu Group, the world’s largest steel and iron enterprise, to import iron ore, the bank announced last week. In May, it partnered with BNP Paribas to promote the digital fiat money to the French institution’s corporate clients in China.

The wallet app of the digital yuan, launched in January 2022, received a major update in September, allowing foreigners in China to sign up using their international phone number, top up with their overseas Visa or Mastercard cards, and transfer their wallet balance back to offshore accounts.

A week before the change, an earlier update allowed domestic citizens to pay for utilities with digital money. The feature arrived years later than on the country’s dominant mobile payment apps, Alipay and WeChat Pay, which enabled similar features in 2008 and 2015, respectively.

Alipay, owned by Alibaba Group Holding’s fintech affiliate Ant Group, and WeChat Pay from Tencent Holdings, controlled a combined market share of 93 per cent by the end of 2022, according to consultancy firm Shangpu Group.

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Since first piloting the digital currency in late 2019, Beijing has been ramping up efforts to expand the project, officially named Digital Currency Electronic Payment, abroad.

Earlier this month, the central banks of China and Singapore announced a new scheme that would allow tourists from the two countries to pay with e-CNY when travelling.

Last year, China completed a multi-country trial under the name mBridge that used central bank digital currencies to settle trades with Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.

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Tests for the cross-border retail use of e-CNY have also been under way in Hong Kong, after BOC Hong Kong in July launched a project allowing mainland customers to shop with the digital yuan in more than 200 retail outlets in the city.

The use of digital yuan in China has seen steady growth. Total e-yuan transaction volumes reached 950 million with a cumulative value of 1.8 trillion yuan by the end of June, up from 100 billion yuan recorded to August last year, according to former People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang.

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