On 28 July 2014, Australia’s first RMB Settlement Service for payments in China’s currency (RMB), which was jointly developed by Bank of China and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), successfully went live, signalling the arrival of the RMB as the first foreign currency to be used for payment settlement in a domestic settlement system in Australia. The launch of the RMB Settlement Service marks a significant step for the internationalisation of the RMB in Australia and will facilitate Australia-China bilateral trade by accelerating the growth of an offshore RMB market in Australia and by promoting Australia as an offshore RMB hub.

As the RMB Settlement Bank in the RMB Settlement Service, Bank of China will endeavour to facilitate existing or future Austraclear participants to transact payments denominated in RMB between each other through Austraclear system. The RMB Settlement Service has been designed so that the RMB transactions take place in real time in the Austraclear system and also been designed to have the potential capacity to issue and trade RMB denominated securities as well as the settlement and clearing of RMB denominated futures and other derivative products in the future.

Bank of China resumed its operations in Australia in 1985, was the first Chinese financial institution to establish a presence in Australia and is now at the forefront of foreign financial institutions in Australia. It is a leading financial institution in respect of RMB business in Australia and was the first bank in Australia to offer deposit and lending products denominated in RMB to both corporate and individual customers in 2009. Bank of China was also the first in Australia to provide correspondent bank clearing services for RMB payments in 2011 and the first bank to issue 20 billion RMB denominated bonds in Australia in 2014.

Bank of China globally ranks No 1 in term of scale and expertise in cross-border RMB business with a comprehensive suite of RMB products including deposits, lending, settlements, investment and transaction products. It has also established a secure and efficient RMB payment settlement network with hubs in both Hong Kong and Shanghai. In addition, Bank of China has been appointed the RMB clearing bank in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Germany, Malaysia as well as Cambodia. Today there are more than 1,100 RMB settlement accounts and well in excess of 1.7 million corporate and personal accounts denominated in RMB held with Bank of China worldwide, positioning Bank of China as a global leader in cross-border RMB clearing and settlement service in term of transaction volume.

Source – Bank of China