Use of yuan hits 6-month high in Hong Kong’s fast-payment system

Yuan-denominated payments rise 34 per cent, with Payment Connect mechanism acting as catalyst for multiplying cross-border use cases Transaction values through Hong Kong’s Faster Payment System (FPS) for yuan reached 35.03 billion yuan (US$5.19 billion) in July, marking a 34 per cent increase from February, according to official data published by Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Ltd (HKICL) on Tuesday. On a year-on-year basis, transaction value increased 16.8 per cent. By directly linking Hong Kong’s FPS with mainland China’s internet banking payment system, the channel enables instantaneous, small-value cross-border transfers. Usage has increasingly expanded into everyday retail transactions, including university tuition, medical expenses and cross-boundary salary remittances. “The rise in renminbi FPS transactions reflects a broader structural trend of growing renminbi payment demand, and Payment Connect is an additional catalyst by expanding cross-border use cases,” said Gary Ng, senior economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank. The growth was also “partially due to the ongoing migration of payment infrastructure” towards the FPS system, he added.

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