SWIFT signs MoU with China International Payment Service Corporation

China’s Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) will use SWIFT as the secure, efficient and reliable channel to connect CIPS with SWIFT’s global user community. 

Source: SWIFT. SWIFT Chief Executive of Asia Pacific and EMEA, Alain Raes (right) and CIPS Executive Director, Li Wei (left) signed the MOU in Beijing, China on 25 March 2016. 

"China International Payment Service Corp. (CIPS) is looking forward to benefitting from SWIFT’s platform and services to provide an efficient and convenient channel to the global financial community. We aim to provide an inclusive platform to capture cross-border RMB flows to all types of participants which will significantly extend the reach of RMB internationalisation,” CIPS Executive Director, Li Wei said.

SWIFT Chief Executive of Asia Pacific and EMEA, Alain Raes said, “SWIFT is a global messaging provider supporting more than 150 payment and settlement systems, and CIPS is a payment system. There are natural synergies between global financial messaging services, such those provided by SWIFT, and payment systems. Working with such market infrastructures is at the heart of our business.”

SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative with more than 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries. To attain RMB internationalisation worldwide requires global reach and an extremely connected network, such as SWIFT’s. To date, 1,700 financial institutions have made RMB transactions using the SWIFT network. Nearly 400 Chinese financial institutions and corporations are connected to SWIFT today.