Bank of China released the 2025 white paper on the international use of RMB, hereinafter referred to as the White Paper on June 6.

Leveraging its advantages in global operations, BOC compiled and released the white paper based on evaluations and feedback regarding the RMB international use from over 2,200 domestic industrial and commercial enterprises, nearly 1,100 overseas industrial and commercial enterprises and 106 overseas financial institutions.

The white paper showed that the RMB international use continued to make progress in 2024.

International use of the RMB became more frequent. The vast majority of surveyed domestic and overseas market participants indicated their intention to increase the use of RMB in cross-border transactions. The willingness of overseas industrial and commercial enterprises to use the RMB showed a more obvious increase, and the RMB usage by enterprises going global in their outbound direct investments further improved. The proportion of overseas industrial and commercial enterprises holding RMB cash or financial assets has risen for three consecutive years.

The internationalization of the RMB showed tangible results in serving small and micro-sized enterprises (SMEs) and foreign trade enterprises.

The corporate survey found that enterprises with a higher proportion of import and export revenue in their total operating income were more willing to use the cross-border RMB. Due to advantages such as savings on foreign exchange costs, hedging against exchange rate risks, and the simplicity and user-friendliness of related products, the cross-border use of the RMB gained higher recognition among foreign trade and SMEs.

Moreover, the regionalization of the RMB became more solid and robust. The survey found that the proportion of positive feedback from industrial and commercial enterprises in China's neighboring countries and regions, particularly ASEAN, was significantly higher than the overall average. 

For instance, in areas such as willingness to use the RMB, conducting RMB payments and receipts with market participants outside of China, prioritizing RMB trade financing in trade with China, and evaluating the promotion of multilateral cooperation, the feedback from ASEAN enterprises was better than the overall level of overseas respondents.

In addition, the depth and breadth of the off-shore market further improved. More overseas industrial and commercial enterprises claimed that they could conveniently access RMB products and services locally, with high improvements noted in regions such as ASEAN, Europe and Latin America. 

More surveyed overseas financial institutions indicated that their clients' demand for RMB products and services has continued to grow. The survey results reflect a positive trend of expanding product coverage and increasing demand in the offshore RMB market. 

Hong Kong's hub status in the off-shore RMB network remained solid, with a prominent share in cross-regional RMB payments and receipts. Other major off-shore RMB centers saw further growth in the scale of their funds collection and distribution in RMB.

The momentum for multilateral cooperation further strengthened. Over 90 percent of domestic and overseas industrial and commercial enterprises acknowledged the advantages of using local currencies for settlement, while 80 percent of surveyed enterprises recognized the benefits of local currency settlements. 

A total of about 37 percent of surveyed domestic and overseas industrial and commercial enterprises believed that multilateral cooperation based on the cross-border use of RMB helped maintain financial and trade stability and facilitated trade and investment. 

Over 40 percent of surveyed domestic and overseas enterprises believed that the RMB played a constructive role in multilateral cooperation, which is conducive to further tapping into cooperative potential. 

BOC has always been committed to leveraging its unique strengths to support the steady and prudent promotion of RMB internationalization. 

In 2024, BOC's domestic and overseas branches completed over 43 trillion yuan ($6.08 trillion) in cross-border RMB settlements, a year-on-year increase of 31 percent; completed 1,314 trillion yuan in cross-border RMB clearing, a year-on-year increase of 49 percent; and handled 117.7 billion yuan in personal cross-border RMB settlement, a year-on-year increase of 134 percent. 

BOC continued to leverage its traditional advantages in cross-border business and contribute to promoting high-level opening-up with more comprehensive financial products and services.