Citic Bank International (CBI), an offshore commercial banking arm of China Citic Bank, said the yuan cross-border transactions settled by the bank reached HK$34.8 billion in the period January to mid-March.
The amount was equivalent to almost 60 per cent of CBI's total yuan trade settlements last year.
Hong Kong contributed the largest share of the growth and CBI said this was mainly due to increased collaboration with its parent bank.
The prospects for growth in settling yuan-denominated trade remains large Peter Pang, deputy chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said earlier this year.
Last year the mainland accounted for 8.8 per cent of global trade while only 2.5 per cent of its total trade was settled in yuan.
Pang said if yuan-denominated trade picked up, Hong Kong would benefit as the city captured about 75 per cent of the mainland's yuan trade settlements last year.
Collaboration with its parent also saw approved loan facilities to CBI from China Citic Bank referrals jump 262 per cent to HK$20 billion last year.