Cross-Border Finance Breakthroughs Land in Force: Offshore RMB FX Trading, Digital Yuan Payments and Cash Pooling Advance in Tandem

Since September 2026, China's cross-border finance sector has witnessed a series of new developments.

A review by Securities Times of China (Quanshang China) reporters shows that, from the offshore renminbi foreign exchange trading platform welcoming its first batch of overseas securities-type institutions, to the digital yuan cross-border payment network expanding into the European market, and to the rollout of new rules for centralized cross-border operations of both domestic and foreign currency funds by multinational corporations, a string of innovative practices has continued to advance the high-level two-way opening-up of China's forex market, providing more efficient and convenient cross-border financial services for the real economy and foreign trade enterprises.

Offshore RMB FX business participants expand

Reporters recently learned that, to promote the high-level two-way opening-up of China's forex market and foster coordinated development of the onshore and offshore markets, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) has been steadily expanding the range of participants in offshore RMB foreign exchange business.

On September 21, 2026, the first batch of overseas securities-type institutions joined the CFETS offshore RMB foreign exchange trading platform, including Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong), CITIC Securities International Capital Management, CSCI (Overseas) Investment, Guotai Junan Securities Investment (Hong Kong), and CICC Financial Products.

According to reporters, all five institutions have so far executed multiple offshore RMB foreign exchange transactions, covering spot FX, swaps and other products.

Since June 17, when the People's Bank of China authorized six pilot banks' head offices to participate in CFETS offshore RMB FX business, the market has seen continuously expanding participants, product structures converging with international standards, improving platform liquidity and price competitiveness, and steadily growing trading volume.

Market observers noted that the recent entry of overseas securities-type institutions helps diversify the participant structure of the offshore RMB FX market, deepen and broaden the market, and further promote healthy interaction between the onshore and offshore markets.

CFETS said it will continue to improve and expand offshore RMB FX business, optimize innovation, and enhance the service capacity of financial infrastructure to support the building of Shanghai as an international financial center.

Digital yuan cross-border payment network expands

In the field of digital yuan cross-border payments, several large state-owned banks have also recently announced new breakthroughs.

On September 21, China Construction Bank processed a trade-related cross-border remittance for Chinese and Swiss enterprises through the CBETS (Cross-Border E-Tokens Service) digital yuan cross-border settlement service platform. The transaction was executed by CCB's Zurich branch, becoming the first deal completed on the European continent since the CBETS platform began operating under its brand.

The CBETS platform had previously covered multiple countries and regions, and the completion of the China-Switzerland remittance marks the official extension of the digital yuan cross-border payment service network from Asia to Europe.

At present, foreign trade enterprises generally face dual pressures of financing and settlement in import business. On one hand, raw material procurement requires large upfront funds with long capital occupation cycles and heavy turnover pressure; on the other, cross-border payment involves multiple steps, slow processing and high costs, further burdening enterprises.

The latest CBETS practice shows that the platform now enables "payment as settlement" for cross-border remittances, cutting arrival times from days to seconds with full traceability, effectively improving the efficiency of China-Switzerland trade settlement.

Similarly, the Beihai branch of the People's Bank of China recently guided the Agricultural Bank of China Beihai branch, leveraging the CBETS cross-border settlement service platform and the Beibu Gulf trade digitalization service platform, to complete the region's first "CBETS plus cross-border trade financing" transaction — a 10 million yuan import bill financing for a key local foreign trade enterprise, settled efficiently through CBETS.

On September 18, at the China-ASEAN Financial Cooperation and Development Forum, the Digital RMB International Operation Center established by the PBOC officially launched CBETS LIFT (Looped International Financing for Trade), a professional service brand of the CBETS platform for the trade sector, focusing on cross-border trade settlement and investment-financing and using digitalization to remove bottlenecks in traditional cross-border trade finance. LIFT stands for Looped International Financing for Trade, covering four core elements: loop, international, financing and trade settlement.

Currently, Bank of Communications has joined hands with Shanghai Digital Trade Financial Services and Guangxi Data Group, comprehensively applying blockchain, smart contracts and other technologies to advance the rollout of digitalized financial services for cross-border trade.