Europe now represents 10 percent of total global Renminbi payments, according to Swift's RMB tracker.
A 123.6 percent growth in UK RMB payments July 2014 between July 2013 helped to drive Europe's increasing presence in the market, with France (+43.5 percent), Germany (+116 percent) and Luxembourg (+41.9 percent) also showing significant gains.
Since July 2013, European payments directly exchanged with China and Hong Kong in RMB have increased by 105 percent.
“For most of these European hubs, Greater China still remains the main trading partner in RMB”, says Michael Moon, head of payments and RMB, Asia Pacific at SWIFT. “However, there seems to be a noticeable shift in business for some countries like Luxembourg, with an increasing share of truly offshore flows (e.g. no Greater China leg). In the future, we should see a bigger contribution from truly offshore flows in the internationalisation of the Chinese currency”.
The increases come after a push from Chinese financial authorities to establish official offshore renminbi clearing centres. Additionally, a bilateral currency swap agreement between the People’s Bank of China and the Swiss National Bank announced in July may help Switzerland to challenge London as the main clearing hub for RMB in Europe.
Overall, the RMB strengthened its position as the seventh most used global payments currency and accounted for 1.57 percent of global payments. In July 2014, RMB payments grew in value by 3.0 percent compared to June 2014. At a global level, all currencies increased in value by only 2.0 percent in the same month.
A 123.6 percent growth in UK RMB payments July 2014 between July 2013 helped to drive Europe's increasing presence in the market, with France (+43.5 percent), Germany (+116 percent) and Luxembourg (+41.9 percent) also showing significant gains.
Since July 2013, European payments directly exchanged with China and Hong Kong in RMB have increased by 105 percent.
“For most of these European hubs, Greater China still remains the main trading partner in RMB”, says Michael Moon, head of payments and RMB, Asia Pacific at SWIFT. “However, there seems to be a noticeable shift in business for some countries like Luxembourg, with an increasing share of truly offshore flows (e.g. no Greater China leg). In the future, we should see a bigger contribution from truly offshore flows in the internationalisation of the Chinese currency”.
The increases come after a push from Chinese financial authorities to establish official offshore renminbi clearing centres. Additionally, a bilateral currency swap agreement between the People’s Bank of China and the Swiss National Bank announced in July may help Switzerland to challenge London as the main clearing hub for RMB in Europe.
Overall, the RMB strengthened its position as the seventh most used global payments currency and accounted for 1.57 percent of global payments. In July 2014, RMB payments grew in value by 3.0 percent compared to June 2014. At a global level, all currencies increased in value by only 2.0 percent in the same month.
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