New | Yuan's share in global payments hits record high
The Chinese currency's 2.18 per cent of global share is gradually moving closer to challenge Japanese yen, which accounted for 2.6 per cent in world's payments by value last month
The yuan's share in world payments hit a record high last month as Beijing continued to relax its capital controls to boost the currency's global use.
The yuan accounted for 2.18 per cent of global payments by value, according to data tracked by Swift, the world's largest interbank messaging network to help settle transactions.
While payments by all currencies dropped 3.1 per cent, those settled in the Chinese currency rose 1.99 per cent from April.
The yuan remains the world's fifth-biggest payment currency, after the US dollar, euro, pound sterling and Japanese yen. The dollar's share of global payments is 45 per cent, followed by the euro's 28 per cent and pound sterling's 7.9 per cent.
The yuan's share has been inching up and is now approaching a point where it can soon challenge the yen, which accounted for 2.6 per cent of the global payment pie last month.
"Every month, we witness new proof of global [yuan] adoption," said Michael Moon, the Asia-Pacific head of payments at Swift. "The number of banks that use [yuan] for payments with [mainland] China and Hong Kong is a key internationalisation indicator.
