The RMB Cross-border Payment System (CIPS) has recently delivered an impressive report card.
On April 2, its single-day transaction volume exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan, setting a record high in one fell swoop; in March, its average daily transaction volume reached 920.5 billion yuan, setting a new record for the past 12 months.
Behind this set of data is not only a significant jump in business scale, but also a mirror that clearly reflects the deep signals of the acceleration of the internationalization of the RMB, the strengthening of China’s financial resilience, and the adjustment of the global monetary structure.
From a short-term perspective, geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East continue to intensify, and traditional safe-haven assets are increasingly volatile.
In such an environment, global capital is eager to seek a more stable “safe haven.”
China’s economic fundamentals remain sound, the RMB exchange rate has shown strong resilience, and the government bond market has experienced minimal fluctuations.
These advantages have attracted a large amount of cross-border capital to flow into China, directly driving the surge in CIPS transactions.
In trade and energy settlements in the Middle East, ASEAN and other regions, the proportion of RMB used is rapidly increasing, and many countries are also accelerating the diversified layout of “de-dollarization”.
In the long term, this phenomenon marks that CIPS, as the “highway” for global clearing of RMB, has greatly improved its maturity and recognition.
The system has covered more than 190 countries and regions, and continues to optimize transaction efficiency and security, providing reliable support for cross-border trade, direct investment and financial market transactions.
The continuous rise in data is actually a vote of confidence cast by the international market in China’s financial openness, institutional stability and economic potential, which has effectively promoted the advancement of the RMB from a trade settlement currency to a reserve, investment and financing currency.
This breakthrough is of great significance to China.
It helps China reduce its dependence on external systems for cross-border payments, improves financial autonomy and security, and also reduces exchange costs and risks for enterprises’ cross-border operations.
For the world, the increase in the activity of the RMB will help build a more balanced and diversified international monetary system and alleviate the fragility caused by the dominance of a single currency.
Overall, the record high CIPS transaction volume is a phased milestone.
It not only reflects the short-term hedging demand, but also reflects the long-term trend of RMB internationalization from quantitative to qualitative changes.
This trend has injected new momentum into the high-level opening up of China’s finance and the stability of global finance. It also makes us full of expectations for the future development of the RMB on the international monetary stage.
