RMB Tracker

September 2023

RMB Tracker
Monthly reporting and statistics on
renminbi (RMB) progress towards
becoming an international currency

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RMB Tracker In August 2023, the RMB has retained its position as the fifth most active
September 2023 currency for global payments by value, with a share of 3.47%. Overall,
RMB payments value increased by 18% compared to July 2023, whilst in
general all payments currencies increased by 4.02%.

In terms of international payments excluding payments within the

Eurozone, the RMB ranked 6th with a share of 2.59% in August 2023.

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RMB’s share as a global payment's currency & International payment’s currency
Live and delivered, MT 103, MT 202 (Customer initiated and institutional payments), and ISO equivalent, Messages exchanged on Swift. Based on value.

RMB’s share as a global payment's currency RMB’s share as an international payment's currency -
Excluding payments within Eurozone
August 2023 August 2023
1 USD 48,03% 1 USD 59,74%
2 EUR 23,22% 2 EUR 12,71%
3 GBP 7,14% 3 GBP 5,32%
4 JPY 3,68% 4 JPY 5,19%
5 CNY 3,47% 5 CAD 2,80%
6 CAD 2,33% 6 CNY 2,59%
7 HKD 1,90% 7 CHF 1,85%
8 AUD 1,51% 8 AUD 1,71%
9 SGD 1,08% 9 HKD 1,38%
10 CHF 0,98% 10 NOK 0,82%
11 NOK 0,83% 11 SEK 0,80%
12 SEK 0,75% 12 SGD 0,64%
13 PLN 0,70% 13 PLN 0,61%
14 MYR 0,44% 14 MXN 0,59%
15 THB 0,43% 15 DKK 0,58%
16 DKK 0,40% 16 NZD 0,45%
17 MXN 0,35% 17 HUF 0,33%
18 NZD 0,34% 18 CZK 0,32%
19 PHP 0,29% 19 ZAR 0,24%
20 ZAR 0,28% 20 SAR 0,20%

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 Hong Kong 73.16%

United Kingdom 5,51%

Singapore 3.81%

RMB Tracker United States 2,85%

September 2023 Clearing centres
Russian Federation 2.62%
Non clearing centres
Taiwan 1.86%

France 1,82%

Macao 1,57%

Australia 1,13% Top 15 offshore RMB

economies by weight –
South Korea 1,04%
August 2023
Japan 0,84%
Customer initiated and institutional
Germany 0,65% payments. Inbound + Outbound traffic.
Based on value. Excluding China.
Netherlands 0,40%
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Watch Analytics Luxembourg 0,39%

Belgium 0.36%
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 Offshore RMB payments evolution
Customer initiated and institutional payments. Excluding China.
Messages exchanged on Swift. Based on value.

Other countries
Hong Kong
24%
27%
23% 23%
24% 26%
26%
27% 26%
28%
27%
25% 25% 26% 29% 26%
24%
24% 25% 26% 26%
23% 26% 29%
25% 28% 27%
25% 27%
23% 25% 25% 28%
24% 25% 26%
25% 25%
26%
25%25%25% 25% 25% 25%
25%25% 25%
25%25% 28% 26%
25% 25% 26%
24%
76%
77% 77% 73%
76% 74% 74%
72% 73% 74%
76% 75% 75% 74% 74% 73%
76% 75% 71%
75%
77% 74%74% 71%
74%
77% 75% 75% 72% 73% 73%
76% 75% 75%75% 75% 74% 72%
75%75%75%75%75% 75% 75% 75%74%75%
75%75% 72%74% 74%
76% 75% 75%

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

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 Evolution of RMB’s share as a global payment's currency RMB Ranking
Live and delivered, MT 103, MT 202 (Customer initiated and institutional payments), and ISO equivalent
Messages exchanged on Swift. Based on value. RMB Share

4 4
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
3,50% 3,47%

3,20%
3,06%
3,00%

2,77%
2,70%

2,54%
2,49% 2,46%
2,50% 2,42% 2,44%
2,20% 2,37% 2,29%
2,20% 2,15% 2.31%
2,15% 2,26%
2,22% 2.20% 2.23% 2,14%
2,15% 2.19% 2,19% 2,17% 2,15% 2,19%
2,14% 2.13%
2,00% 1,95%
2,00% 1,95% 1,94% 1,91% 1,97%
1,89% 1.88% 1.90% 1.91%
1,86% 1.85%
1,79%
1.66%

2.11%
1,50% 1.99% 1.95% 1.93%
1.85% 1.88% 1.81% 1.85%
1.76%
1.65% 1.65% 1.66%

1,00%
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul AugSep Oct NovDec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul AugSep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul AugSep Oct NovDec Jan Feb Mar Apr MayJun Jul AugSep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

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 RMB’s share as a global currency in trade finance market
Live and delivered, inter-group only MT 400 and MT 700.
Messages exchanged on Swift. Based on value.

August 2023

RMB Tracker
1 USD 83,95%
September 2023
2 EUR 6,43%

3 CNY 4,82%

4 JPY 1,28%

5 SAR 0,63%

6 IDR 0,54%

7 AED 0,48%

8 THB 0,46%

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9 VND 0,29%
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10 GBP 0,15%
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Top economies doing FX Spot transactions in RMB Currency used in FX Spot
FX confirmations, including central banks, inter-group only. FX confirmations, including central banks, inter-group only.
MT 300 messages exchanged on Swift. Based on value. MT 300 messages exchanged on Swift.
August 2023
Based on value, currency bought sent.
August 2023

POSITION SPOT
32.49%, 26.97%,
Others Switzerland
1 USD

2 EUR
14.48%,
7.58%, Singapore 3 GBP
Taiwan
9.26%,
9.22%, 4 CNY
South
Japan
Korea
5 JPY
20.75%
Others
6 CAD

39.32% 7 AUD
United Kingdom
7.61%
France 8 CHF

9 HKD
7.68%
China
10 KRW
9.58%
Hong Kong 15.06%
United States
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RMB Tracker

September 2023 Insights behind recent data fluctuations

Following Europe’s migration to the ISO 20022 standard for domestic and cross-border payments in March 2023,
Swift has become aware of a change in market practice in the region.
A number of European central banks are now using camt.xxx reporting messages for liquidity management and
to inform commercial banks of their open credit lines instead of MT 202 payment instruction messages that they
used previously for these notification purposes. This behaviour shift creates a more accurate classification of
financial data going forward, but also has the effect of excluding these previously counted messages from the
RMB tracker data. This new market practice has led to a decrease of EUR by 15% over the past six months. As
more markets and payments shift to the new standard, there could be similar changes in market practice in other
parts of the world that would, in turn, lead to some recalibration in the overall data and currency positions.

Due to this change in market practice, Swift has decided to remove the history in our currency rankings.
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 Disclaimer
The RMB Tracker only reflects the statistics computed from
RMB Tracker the following message types (Payments: MT103, MT202,
pacs.008 and pacs.009; Foreign Exchange: MT 300; Trade
September 2023 Finance: MT 400 and MT 700) and exchanged between
financial institutions through Swift. Because financial
institutions have multiple means to exchange information
about their financial transactions, the RMB Tracker does not
represent complete market or industry statistics. The RMB
Tracker statistics can also fluctuate for reasons not linked to
the use of a particular currency (for instance, when financial
institutions adopt new market practices, use new messages
types for certain transaction or reporting flows, or increase
or reduce their use of Swift).
About Swift
Swift is a member-owned cooperative that provides the
communications platform, products and services to connect
more than 11,000 financial institutions and corporations in
more than 200 countries and territories. Swift enables its
users to exchange automated, standardized financial
information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs,
reducing operational risk and eliminating operational
inefficiencies. Swift also brings the financial community
together to work collaboratively to shape market practice,
define standards and debate issues of mutual interest.
www.Swift.com

Key resources for more information:

Swift does not guarantee the fitness for purpose,
completeness, or accuracy of the RMB Tracker, and RMB Package
reserves the right to rectify past RMB Tracker data. Business Intelligence solutions

Swift provides the RMB Tracker on an 'as is' basis, and for
information purposes only. As a mere informative
publication, the RMB Tracker is not meant to provide any
recommendation or advice.

Swift disclaims all liability for any decisions based, in full or

in part, on RMB Tracker data, and for their consequences.
The RMB Tracker is a publication of S.W.I.F.T. SC. Swift ©
2023. All rights reserved.