In the current context of accelerating RMB internationalization, the field of cross-border payments has become the focus.
Many companies have emerged in the cross-border payment market with their respective innovative advantages.
First of all, let’s look at the core institution for cross-border clearing. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SH), as the core operating bank of the CIPS system, has many unique advantages.
It is a Chinese bank with the most extensive offshore RMB clearing network in the world, and has long ranked first in the world in terms of cross-border RMB settlement volume and clearing volume.
The “Chunxu Action 2026” cross-border RMB comprehensive financial solution launched by it has created an integrated service system for cross-border RMB settlement, investment and financing, and exchange rate hedging covering the world, and is the core carrier of RMB internationalization.
At the same time, it has been deeply involved in national cross-border payment innovation projects such as the Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge (mBridge), realizing the full process of digital RMB cross-border settlement. The settlement efficiency is more than 80% higher than the traditional SWIFT system. It has also built the world’s largest offshore RMB clearing network, covering more than 60 countries and regions, and is directly connected to the central bank clearing systems of 17 countries, becoming the core hub of global cross-border RMB clearing.
Lakala (300773.SZ), the leader in licensed third-party cross-border payments, should not be underestimated.
It is one of the first batch of direct participating institutions in CIPS, the only independent third-party payment institution in China with full-brand foreign card acquiring business qualifications, and a core enterprise in the cross-border e-commerce payment track.
The digital RMB cross-border settlement full-link solution created by the company enables cross-border payment fees to be as low as 0.1%, and the payment can be received as quickly as 8 seconds. The overall cost is more than 90% lower than the traditional SWIFT model, solving the core pain points of the industry of “high rates and slow arrival” of cross-border payments.
Directly connected to the clearing systems of central banks in 17 countries, covering 100+ countries and regions and 37 currencies around the world, it has built a full-scenario cross-border payment network. In the first three quarters of 2025, the cross-border payment transaction amount reached 60.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 77.56%. The cross-border e-commerce payment market share reached 43%, ranking first in the industry.
It also innovatively launched cross-border e-commerce integrated services of “foreign exchange collection and payment + foreign exchange settlement and sale + tax declaration” to realize a digital closed-loop of the entire cross-border trade process and significantly reduce the cross-border settlement threshold for small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises.
CNPC Capital (000617.SZ), a scarce target for cross-border energy settlement, is a central enterprise financial holding platform under CNPC. Its core subsidiary, Bank of Kunlun, is the core channel for RMB settlement of energy trade between China, Russia and the Middle East, and is one of the first direct participants in CIPS.
It monopolizes the core track of cross-border RMB settlement of domestic energy and is the only banking entity in China that complies with the RMB settlement of China-Iran oil. The market share of RMB settlement of Middle East energy exceeds 45%, and the scale of cross-border settlement in 2024 will exceed 500 billion yuan.
Launched digital RMB cross-border energy settlement pilot, implemented the entire process of digital RMB crude oil trade settlement in energy exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, compressed the traditional cross-border settlement time from 2 days to 1 hour, reduced the handling fee by 2/3, and solved the efficiency and cost pain points of cross-border settlement of energy trade.
Build a cross-border payment network covering more than 30 currencies and 15 countries along the “Belt and Road”. Relying on PetroChina’s full industry chain resources, we will create an integrated service system of “energy trade + cross-border settlement + supply chain finance”, with unreplicable central enterprise resources and license barriers.
Sifang Jingchuang (300468.SZ), a core service provider of cross-border payment technology infrastructure, is the only A-share financial technology company deeply involved in the full-stack construction of the central bank’s multilateral central bank digital currency bridge (mBridge) and a core enterprise in cross-border payment blockchain technology.
Leading the core development of the smart contract protocol layer of the mBridge project, creating the world’s first multilateral central bank digital currency cross-border settlement underlying technology system, supporting cross-border transactions of currencies of 56 countries, with a transaction throughput of 5,000 transactions/second, and settlement efficiency increased by more than 90% compared with the SWIFT system, achieving sub-second settlement of cross-border payments.
It provides full-process transformation of the CIPS system, cross-border payment message conversion, and blockchain settlement technical support for the six major state-owned banks including ICBC and Bank of China. The annual processing amount of the developed cross-border payment system has reached one trillion yuan. It is the core service provider for the upgrade of bank cross-border payment systems.
The innovative cross-border payment compliance and anti-money laundering smart contract solution has been launched to realize the traceability and supervision of the entire cross-border transaction process and significantly reduce the compliance risks of cross-border payments. It has been implemented in many countries along the “Belt and Road”.
Changliang Technology (300348.SZ), as the global leader in banking core systems and the core service provider of CIPS systems, provides system upgrade services for more than 70% of CIPS directly participating banks.
Build a domestic cross-border banking core system, realize the seamless connection of CIPS and SWIFT dual channels, support multi-currency real-time clearing and the digitization of the entire cross-border settlement process, have covered 60+ domestic banks, and won the bid for cross-border payment system projects of many overseas central banks such as the UAE Central Bank and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
Deeply involved in the Digital Currency Bridge project of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, it launched a cross-border payment core system adapted to the offshore RMB market to solve the compatibility issues of multi-currency and multi-regulatory systems for cross-border payments. It is a core service provider for the construction of cross-border systems for Chinese banks going overseas.
The innovative cross-border payment microservice architecture can realize rapid iteration and low-cost upgrade of bank’s cross-border system, significantly shorten the implementation cycle of banks’ docking of CIPS system, and the industry’s market share is firmly at the forefront.
Xinyada (600571.SH) is a leader in financial IT and cross-border payment risk control, and has been deeply involved in the field of financial technology for more than 20 years.
Exclusively built a full-process cross-border payment system for China-Iran crude oil trade for Bank of Kunlun, innovatively integrating quantum key distribution technology and cross-border payment risk control system, with a success rate of resisting cyber attacks exceeding 99.9%, and solving the security and compliance pain points of cross-border energy payments.
Jointly launched with Huawei, the DCS AI cross-border financial solution has achieved technological breakthroughs in scenarios such as intelligent document review of cross-border payments, anti-money laundering screening, and compliance review. It has shortened the cross-border payment compliance review time from 2 hours to 5 minutes, with an review accuracy rate of over 99.5%. It has served more than 100 banks and financial institutions.
The self-developed cross-border payment message conversion system supports the automatic conversion of message formats of global mainstream clearing systems, enabling seamless integration of CIPS, SWIFT, SEPA and other systems, significantly reducing the construction costs of cross-border payment systems for small and medium-sized banks.
Small Commodity City (600415.SH), the leading payment platform in cross-border business scenarios, is the world’s largest small commodity trading platform. Its Chinagoods platform is the core digital carrier of Yiwu’s cross-border trade and a direct participant in the CIPS system.
Create a full-link digital closed loop of “market procurement trade + cross-border payment + foreign exchange settlement and sales”. Its Chinagoods platform is directly connected to the CIPS system, providing one-stop cross-border payment solutions for 2.1 million buyers around the world. In 2025, the cross-border transaction volume will increase by more than 45% year-on-year.
Innovatively launched the “Yiwu Model” for cross-border trade settlement in RMB, launching low-threshold and low-cost cross-border payment services for small, medium and micro foreign trade merchants, achieving T + 0 cross-border settlement, and handling fees reduced by 60% compared with the industry average, solving the problems of difficult and high-cost cross-border settlement for small and medium-sized merchants.
The implementation of the digital RMB cross-border trade settlement pilot project enables the entire process of digital RMB payment, settlement and traceability of market procurement trade. It is the country’s first full-scenario implementation project of digital RMB cross-border settlement of market procurement trade.
Principal Century (688201.SH), the leader in cross-border payment security and encryption, is the leader in domestic financial password security and the core service provider of the national secret algorithm of the CIPS system.
It provides full-process national secret algorithm support for the CIPS system, innovatively launches cross-border payment quantum key distribution encryption solutions, and realizes end-to-end encryption of cross-border transaction messages, covering more than 80% of CIPS indirect participating institutions. It is the core supplier of cross-border payment security encryption.
The self-developed cross-border payment compliance encryption gateway enables the entire process of cross-border transactions to be traceable and auditable, and meets the anti-money laundering and compliance regulatory requirements of many countries around the world. It has been implemented in the cross-border payment systems of many state-owned banks and joint-stock banks.
Launched a hardware encryption module adapted to digital RMB cross-border payments to solve the identity authentication, data security and privacy protection pain points of digital RMB cross-border transactions, and is the core builder of the digital RMB cross-border payment security system.
