The booth of Bank of China at the third China International Supply Chain Expo.

A staff member from Bank of China's Chongqing Shapingba branch handles cross-border financial services for a customer.

Bank of China Tower is a landmark building in Hong Kong.

The Head Office Tower of BOC is located in Beijing's Xicheng district.

A staff member from BOC showcases the way to use an e-CNY self-service vending machine during an exhibition held in Beijing in 2024.

According to the latest semi-annual report released by Bank of China on Friday, the group achieved an operating income of 329.4 billion yuan ($46.2 billion), representing a year-on-year increase of 3.61 percent. Net fee income grew by 9.17 percent year-on-year, while after-tax profit reached 126.1 billion yuan. After-tax profit attributable to the bank's shareholders amounted to 117.6 billion yuan.

The bank's assets and liabilities showed steady growth. Total assets reached 36.79 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.93 percent compared to the end of the previous year. The proportion of high-yield assets, such as loans and bond investments, increased by 2.32 percentage points. Total liabilities amounted to 33.66 trillion yuan, up 4.85 percent from the end of the previous year. The data released also indicate an improvement in the competitiveness of average daily renminbi deposits in the domestic market.

The internationalization of the RMB, as a key part of the opening-up of China's financial industry, can also benefit the nation's dual-cycle development pattern, which takes the domestic market as the mainstay while allowing domestic and international markets to reinforce each other. As a Chinese commercial bank with a high degree of globalization, BOC, leveraging its century of cross-border financial experience and comprehensive cross-border RMB clearing network, said it will continue to contribute to RMB internationalization and serve China's diplomacy, economy and trade.

Cross-border network

Since establishing its first overseas institution, the London Office, in 1929, BOC has been developing globally. Currently, the bank's overseas institutions cover 64 countries and regions across six continents, including 45 countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. Leveraging its service outlets in key global regions, BOC bridges cross-border exchanges and economic cooperation.

RMB clearing banks are a significant institutional arrangement to assist the international use of the RMB. Since being appointed as the world's first RMB clearing bank in 2003, BOC has been developing cross-border RMB clearing channels to expand use of the RMB in foreign trade and investment. Currently, the People's Bank of China — the nation's central bank — has authorized 34 RMB clearing banks in 32 countries and regions. BOC operates 16 of these, including all three clearing banks in Africa.

As the internationalization of the RMB accelerates, the demand for its cross-border payment and settlement continues to grow. The Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, as a critical financial infrastructure, is gradually becoming the main channel.

BOC is involved in the construction of the CIPS system. As of 2024, 44 BOC institutions have joined the CIPS as direct participants, while also acting as agents for nearly 700 banking financial institutions worldwide.

Currently, more than 70 percent of global offshore RMB payments are settled in Hong Kong, with the majority processed through the Real Time Gross Settlement in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong's sole RMB business clearing bank and the settlement institution for this system, BOC keeps on promoting such advantages in RMB settlement and clearing. In 2024, BOC's RMB settlement volume in Hong Kong increased by 5.3 times year-on-year.

By strengthening the regional headquarters functions of BOC (Hong Kong), BOC has enhanced its operations in Southeast Asian countries. To date, BOC serves as the RMB clearing bank for Malaysia, the Philippines and Cambodia, while its Vientiane branch has been approved by the Lao central bank to become the first digital RMB clearing bank. Additionally, as a key partner of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, BOC is a major force in promoting the development of Hong Kong's real economy.

Data show that in 2024, BOC handled a total of 1,313.83 trillion yuan in cross-border RMB clearing business, a year-on-year increase of 40 percent. BOC has been repeatedly awarded the "Best RMB Clearing Bank in the Asia-Pacific Region" by The Asian Banker magazine.

Offshore RMB market

The offshore RMB market is a key part of RMB internationalization. BOC promotes the use of RMB for commodity settlement, supports foreign trade enterprises in expanding the cross-border use of the RMB, enhances the RMB's function as an investment and financing currency and expands cross-border RMB application scenarios.

As the world's third-largest copper-producing region, the copper belt spanning the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia has become a gathering place for projects involved in the BRI. To aid exchanges in the region, BOC opened RMB accounts for enterprises there and reviewed processes such as customs clearance, tax reporting and international payments to address practical issues encountered in RMB-denominated settlement.

This aided the enterprises' RMB-denominated copper product sales transactions with Chinese importers. After receiving the RMB payment, the enterprises can use part of the funds through the BOC Zambia branch to procure equipment from China. This has effectively helped the cyclic use of RMB involving settlement, utilization and repatriation.

In Malaysia, BOC adheres to achieving cross-border financial connectivity through the integration of technology, demand and application scenarios. In September 2024, BOC provided a clearing solution for Central Bank of Malaysia, the Bank Negara Malaysia, which has assisted the collaboration between PayNet (a clearing institution run by the Bank Negara Malaysia) and WeChat QR code payments. After that, BOC was appointed as the sole cross-border settlement bank in Malaysia. By the end of March, the average daily transaction volume had reached 12,600, representing a 5.97-fold increase since its launch.

In supporting the BRI, BOC promotes the use of RMB in financing large-scale infrastructure projects and bilateral trade, providing RMB financing support for numerous landmark cooperative projects. Meanwhile, the bank advocates for RMB-denominated pricing and settlement in commodity trading, achieving breakthroughs in transactions involving iron ore, pulp and other bulk commodities.

E-CNY business

Currently, the e-CNY, or digital yuan, is attracting global attention. Unrestricted by geographical limitations, it holds distinct advantages in the field of cross-border payments.

Since late 2017, BOC has been involved in the research and development of the e-CNY, with various business indicators ranked among the leading level in the industry. In 2020, assigned by the People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, BOC took the lead in launching e-CNY initiatives in Hong Kong. Currently, more than 1,000 retail outlets accept e-CNY payments.

Initiatives like mBridge — a cross-border payment project involving the Chinese mainland, the Hong Kong SAR, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates — are testing the e-CNY for international trade. BOC has participated in the mBridge project since 2022. At present, BOC's head office in Beijing, all domestic branches, BOC (Hong Kong), its subsidiary in Thailand and the Abu Dhabi branch are involved in the project. Since the project's inception, BOC has led in various dimensions such as transaction volume and value, and has provided liquidity support for multiple participating banks within the mBridge system.

"Taking the mBridge as an example, the introduction of central bank digital currency for clearing has streamlined cross-border remittance paths, reduced processing time and costs associated with intermediary banks and lowered clearing risks, thereby enhancing the efficiency of cross-border RMB payments," said a BOC representative.

"From our practice, digital currency has become a hot spot in cooperation between China and other countries, creating new opportunities for RMB internationalization," said a BOC manager.

RMB internationalization is a long-term and complex process, presenting both new challenges and rare development opportunities. As a pioneer in the global expansion of Chinese finance, BOC said it will consolidate the group's global resources, and give full play to its globalization advantages and its role as the main channel for cross-border RMB business expansion, in a bid to promote the development of the offshore RMB market and support the dual-cycle development pattern.