Payment Standards System SWIFT Forms Joint Venture in China

The service will govern Chinese payments, but unlikely to increase offshore yuan adoption

A man counts money in front of an automatic teller machine at the entrance of a bank in Beijing on Aug. 13, 2015. WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images

News Analysis

Financial messaging and international payments leader SWIFT has set up a joint venture with the People’s Bank of China’s (PBoC) digital currency arm to create a product to comply with China’s local laws, legitimize China’s digital yuan to an extent, and remove some risk of the yuan being cut off from the SWIFT system.