RMB nears 40% adoption across financial institutions worldwide

HONG KONG - SWIFT data shows double digit growth of RMB adoption by financial institutions in all regions. In February 2016, 1,131 banks were using the RMB for payments with mainland China and Hong Kong, representing 37% of all institutions exchanging payments with mainland China and Hong Kong across all currencies.

This is an 18% increase over the last two years.
The majority of these institutions are located in Asia-Pacific (557), followed by Europe (376), the Americas (124) and then Africa and the  Middle East (74). Compared to February 2014, strongest growth is seen in the Americas (+31%), followed by Asia-Pacific (+18%), Europe (+17%) and Africa-Middle East (+12%).

The SWIFT data indicates that 24% of the offshore RMB payments done with mainland China and Hong Kong are handled by Chinese banks with a global footprint. In February, the RMB remained the fifth most active currency for global payments by value with a share of 1.76% (ATI).