Yuan overtook euro in October

China’s yuan overtook the euro in October, becoming the second-most used currency in trade finance, global transaction services organisation Swift said yesterday.

The market share of yuan usage in trade finance, or Letters of Credit and Collection, grew to 8.66% in Oct 2013. That improved from 1.89% in Jan 2012.

The yuan, also known as the renminbi, now ranks behind the US dollar, which remains the leading currency with a share of 81.08%. The top five countries using the yuan for trade finance in October were China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, and Australia, Swift said in a statement.

“The renminbi is clearly a top currency for trade finance globally and even more so in Asia,” Franck de Praetere, Swift’s Asia Pacific head of payments and trade markets said.

The renminbi remained the 12th payments currency of the world, with a slightly decreased share of 0.84% compared with 0.86% in September.

Renminbi payments increased in value by 1.5% in October, while growth for all payments currencies was at 4.6%.

Yuan trade settlement has expanded quickly since it first began in 2009 and the percentage of China’s total trade settled in yuan has risen from 12% in 2012 to nearly 20%.

— Reuters