Renminbi breaks into top 5 world payments currency, says SWIFT

The Chinese yuan (renminbi) overtook the Canadian and Australian dollar as a global payments currency in November 2014, and now takes position behind the Japanese Yen, British pound, Euro and US dollar, data from SWIFT shows.

Brussels, 28 January 2015 – After nearly one year firmly positioned at #7, the Renminbi (“RMB”) has entered the top five of world payment currencies since November 2014, overtaking both the Canadian Dollar and the Australian Dollar by value.

Just two years ago, in January 2013, the renminbi was ranked at position #13 with a share of 0.63 percent. In December 2014, it reached a record high share of 2.17 percent in global payments by value and now trails the Japanese Yen which has a share of 2.69 percent.

“The rise of various offshore renminbi clearing centres around the world, including eight new agreements signed with the People’s Bank of China in 2014, was an important driver fuelling this growth,” said Wim Raymaekers, Head of Banking Markets at SWIFT.

Overall, global renminbi payments increased in value by 20.3 percent in December 2014, while the growth for payments across all currencies was 14.9 percent. It has been showing a consistent three digit growth over the past two years with an increase in value of payments by +321 percent.

Over the last year, renminbi payments grew in value by 102 percent compared to an overall yearly growth for all currencies of 4.4 percent.

SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 10,800 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in over 200 countries and territories.