On April 3, 2026, ICBC’s cross-border RMB business continued to advance towards platform scenarios. On that day, ICBC released the “Operation Chunxu 2026” cross-border RMB comprehensive financial solution.
On the same day, multiple branches of ICBC signed cooperation agreements with nearly 200 companies from more than 30 provinces and cities across the country and 18 overseas countries.
Public information shows that the partners currently clearly named at the Shenzhen branch include XTransfer, but the list of other contracted companies has not yet been fully disclosed.
According to the public disclosure standards, this set of RMB CFS focuses on the ecological scenarios of cross-border RMB use, digital channels and comprehensive service values. It launches 10 major service systems including global account opening, cross-border trade settlement, internal and external linkage financing, global cash management, and international cooperation. It also establishes a special financing quota of 1 trillion yuan to support digital trade and Chinese investment overseas.
ICBC also proposed to continue to expand the CIPS clearing service system, deepen innovative applications such as multilateral central bank digital currency bridges and cross-border QR code payments, and improve clearing, payment, custody and other infrastructure.
This plan puts account, settlement, payment, financing and clearing infrastructure into the same framework, and this set of arrangements is consistent with ICBC’s cross-border business promotion direction in the past two years.
ICBC’s 2024 interim report stated that it has provided comprehensive and integrated financial services for new foreign trade formats such as payment institutions and cross-border e-commerce, and continues to promote the “Chunxu Action” to support the cross-border RMB business needs of global market entities in cross-border settlement, investment and financing, risk management and other fields.
ICBC’s 2025 annual report also disclosed that it has launched the “ICBC e-Trade” new foreign trade service system and launched an internal and external linkage solution to serve small and micro enterprises in cross-border e-commerce payment collection. In 2025, the cross-border RMB business volume will exceed 10 trillion yuan.
XTransfer appears in the Shenzhen branch venue list and has a clear business background.
XTransfer has long provided payment and collection services for B2B cross-border trade scenarios, and the cooperation direction is directed towards cross-border RMB use and corporate globalization financial services.
For ICBC, this type of platform is closer to the collection, settlement, reconciliation and capital withdrawal links that occur frequently in foreign trade companies; for foreign trade companies, the account, clearing, payment and financing capabilities of the bank can be quickly accessed through the platform entrance to daily business processes.
XTransfer related entities have also previously added resources from domestic licensed payment institutions.
At the beginning of last year, the main shareholder of Shanghai UnionPay Electronic Payment Service Co., Ltd. was changed to Shanghai Duochang Network Technology Co., Ltd., the actual controller was changed to Deng Guobiao, and the company name was changed to Shanghai Anxinhui Payment Co., Ltd.
Shanghai Duochang is the XTransfer system company.
Looking at this cooperation, XTransfer not only connects cross-border trade collection scenarios, but also supplements the resources of domestic licensed payment institutions. The cooperation and undertaking capabilities are more complete than a single cross-border service platform.
Judging from the existing public information, this line of cooperation with ICBC will continue to expand.
ICBC’s contract signing covers nearly 200 companies, and the scope of cooperation is not narrow; ICBC’s past public documents have also included payment institutions, cross-border e-commerce and other new foreign trade formats as service targets.
The cooperation partners that will be seen first are more likely to be platform-based cross-border service providers, foreign trade service providers and cross-border operating enterprises.
After ICBC laid out its cross-border RMB service framework, the Shenzhen branch has linked cooperation to the platform entrance.
XTransfer has entered the list, and this line has fallen from the head office solution to regional branches and enterprise scenarios.
In addition to the list, whether the accounts, collections, settlements and financing arrangements are further clarified can better reflect the actual progress of this type of cooperation.
