The headquarters of the People's Bank of China in Beijing Photo: IC

Bank of China's Yuan Clearing Bank in Serbia officially went into operation on Monday and successfully handled its first cross-border yuan remittance, in another boost for bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and Serbia, the bank said on Monday. 

This remittance involved a 2-million-yuan ($0.28 million) transfer to North China's Hebei Province from the Smederevo Steel Plant in Serbia, which is owned by HBIS, a China-based iron and steel company.

Bank of China has been committed to promoting the yuan market in Serbia and serves as the main bank for local yuan business, leveraging the bank's role as a private channel for cross-border yuan remittance, the bank said.

The bank pledged to provide high-quality services to Serbian clients, enhance Serbia's role in the Eurasian economic corridor, and promote bilateral economic exchanges. The bank said it aims to facilitate yuan usage in trade and investment, serving as a financial bridge to deepen the China-Serbia strategic partnership and build a community of shared future.

The use of the Chinese yuan in international trade improves the efficiency of bilateral trade and also reflects the degree of the yuan's internationalization.

The share of yuan settlement in cross-border trade has surged in the past two years, thanks partly to policy guidance and market forces, catching the opportunities from interest rate differentials, Liu Jiefeng, an official from the finance sector in China's Ministry of Commerce, said in a meeting to launch the 2023 Cross-Border Yuan Observation Report on May 27.

China has been steadily enhancing the yuan's internationalization and boosting its international status and global influence, and it is now the world's fourth most-used payment currency, Tao Ling, deputy governor of The People's Bank of China, said in an interview on May 30.

Bank of China and Cross-Border Clearing Corp recently held a cross-border yuan business promotion conference in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, with nearly 20 domestic and foreign organizations attending, including the National Bank of Kazakhstan.

The conference aligned with the Central Financial Work Conference and the China-Central Asia Summit, demonstrating the state-owed bank's efforts to build the Chinese yuan into a strong currency and advance its internationalization, the bank said.

China's central bank also vowed to further promote trade and investment facilitation, enhance coordination between the Chinese yuan and foreign currencies, improve cross-border yuan usage arrangements, refine rules, and cultivate the market to meet demands for transactions and settlement.

Global Times