British multinational bank Standard Chartered will participate in the trial of China’s digital renminbi central bank digital currency (e-CNY CBDC), making it one of the first foreign banks to conduct such trials in China.
According to reports on November 27 announcementStandard Chartered Bank, through its partner City Bank Clearing Services Ltd., will allow its customers to purchase, redeem and exchange e-RMB within their bank accounts. Zhang Xiaolei, President of Standard Chartered Bank China, said: “As an international bank that has been rooted in the Chinese market for 165 years, Standard Chartered Bank is optimistic about the development prospects of digital renminbi.”
The bank will also join China’s e-renminbi CBDC pilot testing program, which is currently underway in 26 provinces and cities. Standard Chartered said areas it is exploring include cross-border merchant payments, trade finance and supply chain finance.
Last year, Standard Chartered Bank participated in the “Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge” proof-of-concept test project held in Hong Kong to provide cross-border payment settlement services for retail and corporate customers. In May 2023, Standard Chartered Bank and PwC China jointly released the report “Central Bank Digital Currency Creates a Future Banking Ecosystem” to explore the application prospects of CBDC in the fields of retail, trade and supply chain finance.
On November 25, the People’s Bank of China publish A white paper titled “Cross-border E-Commerce B2B Digital RMB Application Solutions”. The document calls on commercial payment processors to integrate e-yuan CBDC into consumer transactions.Since its launch in 2020, electronic RMB transactions have transcend 1.8 trillion ($253.6 billion), while the number of wallets surged to 120 million.
Related: What is a CBDC?Why central banks want to get involved in digital currencies
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