On July 4, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) announced that it had revised the original Business Rules for the Cross-border RMB Payment System (CIPS) to meet the business development needs of the Cross-border RMB Payment System (CIPS) and formed the new Business Rules for the Cross-border RMB Payment System (Draft for Comments). Now this new version of the business rules is open to the public for comments.
As of the end of May 2025, since the launch of the CIPS system, the cumulative amount of various payment services has exceeded 675 trillion yuan!
Revision of CIPS Business Rules: "Specification" + "Flexibility"
1. The identity of the operating agency is clearer: the corporate enterprise legal person
The draft clearly states that the operating body of CIPS must be a "corporate enterprise legal person", that is, a formally registered enterprise company, and must be approved by the People's Bank of China, specifically responsible for providing cross-border RMB clearing and settlement services for domestic and foreign customers.
This point was not particularly emphasized in the old version of the rules in 2018, and now it is officially "qualified" - it is no longer an ambiguous identity, but an independent market entity with legal status.
At the same time, the People's Bank of China will also supervise and guide this operating institution in accordance with the law to ensure that it is reliable and compliant.
2. Participant management is more flexible and responsibilities are clearer
The new draft also emphasizes an important point: the operating institutions themselves must have "participant management measures", that is, who will play, how to play, and what to do if the play is broken, the operating institutions themselves must formulate their own rules.
These include: mechanisms for the entry and exit of participants; important matters to be reported; risk management requirements, and more.
In the past, these contents were written directly in the business rules of the central bank, but now it is equivalent to handing over the specific "administrator responsibilities" to the operating agency, so that it can be the steward of this "club".
3. The threshold for overseas participation is relaxed and the flexibility is stronger
Another interesting change is regarding the conditions for foreign institutions to apply to become a direct participant in CIPS:
The old version stipulates that an overseas institution must entrust a direct participant of a domestic bank as its fund custodian.
New Consultation Paper: Changed to "may entrust qualified direct participants as fund custodian banks", and no longer requires "domestic banking participants".
To put it bluntly: you don't have to find a Chinese bank for custody, as long as the custodian meets the qualifications. This is a great benefit for attracting more international financial institutions to join the CIPS system.
4. The rules of the clearing account are also fine-tuned
Clarity of ownership of funds: from common interest to ownership by direct participants
The previous rules were as follows: the old business rules stated that the People's Bank of China opened a clearing account for CIPS in the large-value payment system, and the funds in this account were considered the common interests of all direct participants in CIPS. In other words, the money in the account belongs to all the participants.
However, the latest Consultation Paper has a new meaning: the new Consultation Paper proposes that the funds in the CIPS account belong to the direct participants who opened the accounts, rather than the own property of the operating institutions.
This change may allow each direct participant to have greater control over their own funds, allowing them to manage and schedule them according to their own business needs. Direct participants can be more aware that the funds in their accounts are their own and not part of the assets of the operating organization. This helps to increase the confidence and security of the system for direct participants.
There are new initiatives in risk management and foreign currency payments
1. The risk control system has been comprehensively upgraded: safety first
An important part has been added to the Consultation Paper: operating institutions must establish a complete risk management framework, including building a risk management system, formulating relevant systems, adopting prevention and control measures, and being able to monitor and manage various risks in real time, such as liquidity risks, business operation risks, system operation risks, etc.
Compared with the previous version, this part is a new content, indicating that the regulator has higher requirements for the stability and security of the CIPS system. After all, now that there are more and more participating institutions and more and more funds, risk prevention and control must also keep up with the rhythm.
2. Message standards must also be compliant: anti-money laundering cannot be relaxed
In addition, the Consultation Paper also mentions a detailed change: the CIPS message standard should implement the relevant requirements of international anti-money laundering.
What is a packet? You can simply think of it as a standard format for passing information when trading. The new regulations emphasize that this set of standards must comply with international anti-money laundering regulations, and the purpose is to prevent criminals from "laundering" money through cross-border payments, so as to make CIPS more compliant and credible in the international financial arena.
3. Foreign currency payments such as Hong Kong dollars can also go through the CIPS channel
The Consultation Paper also releases a new signal: for the processing of cross-border foreign currency payments such as Hong Kong dollars through CIPS, the operating institutions will formulate relevant rules separately.
That is to say, in the future, not only RMB, but also other currencies such as Hong Kong dollars may also be settled through the CIPS system, but the specific rules on how to play will have to be issued. This is a positive signal to promote the internationalization of CIPS and build a multi-currency clearing platform!
CIPS welcomes new partners: covering four continents
On June 18, CIPS held a signing ceremony with several foreign institutions for direct participants. The "little partners" who joined this time are not ordinary: African Export-Import Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Kyrgyzstan Eldik Bank, United Overseas Bank of Singapore.
These new members bring CIPS to cover offshore RMB centres in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Singapore for the first time. This is like adding several important nodes to the global financial network of CIPS, making it more accessible.
According to the data of the cross-border clearing company, as of now: there are 1,683 participants in the CIPS system, of which 174 are direct participants. Overseas direct participants accounted for 72%, and the total number of indirect participants was 1,509, with overseas indirect participants accounting for 63%.
CIPS has formed a large cross-border payment network around the world, and more and more international financial institutions are willing to join this big family.
In addition to the continuous expansion of participating institutions, the business volume of CIPS is also steadily increasing. The data shows that:
As of the end of May 2025, the CIPS system has processed more than 675 trillion yuan of various payment services since its launch!
From 2022 to 2024, the three-year compound growth rate of CIPS business volume and value will reach 35% and 30%, respectively.
CIPS has welcomed new foreign direct participants, further expanded its global network, and continued to grow rapidly, indicating that the internationalization of the RMB is accelerating.
For investors, this means: CIPS-related fintech companies; cross-border payment solution providers; Financial institutions involved in the internationalization of the RMB. It is possible to get more opportunities and development space in the future.
