Key takeaways:
- One of the first international banks to test China’s digital yuan CBDC, the e-CNY, is the multinational British bank Standard Chartered.
- The bank will participate in China’s e-CNY CBDC pilot program, which is being carried out in 26 provinces and cities at the moment.
One of the first international banks to test China’s digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC), the e-CNY, is the multinational British bank Standard Chartered.
The announcement from November 27 states that Standard Chartered will enable its customers to buy, swap, and redeem e-CNY within their bank accounts through its partner, City Bank Clearing Services Co. The head of Standard Chartered China, Xiaolei Zhang, stated:
“As an international bank rooted in the Chinese market for 165 years, Standard Chartered is optimistic about the development prospects of digital Renminbi,”
Additionally, the bank will participate in China’s e-CNY CBDC pilot program, which is being carried out in 26 provinces and cities at the moment. Supply chain finance, trade finance, and cross-border merchant payments are among the sectors that Standard Chartered said it is exploring.
Standard Chartered took part in the proof-of-concept test project called “Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge” in Hong Kong last year in order to offer cross-border payment settlement services to business and retail clients.
Standard Chartered and PricewaterhouseCoopers China collaborated to publish the paper “Central Bank Digital Currency to Create a Future Banking Ecosystem” in May 2023. The report covered the potential uses of CBDCs in supply chain finance, retail, and trade.
A white paper titled “A cross-border e-commerce business-to-business digital renminbi application solution” was released by China’s central bank on November 25.
In order to facilitate consumer transactions, the document required commercial payment processors to integrate the e-CNY CBDC. e-CNY transactions have exceeded 1.8 trillion yuan ($253.6 Billion) since its launch in 2020, and there are now 120 Million wallets.
Hong Kong is becoming the new home for the financial services provided by Standard Chartered and Zodia, an institutional crypto custody platform. The demand for cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong, according to Sawyer, is mostly driven by institutional investors.
