CNY shows notable growth for payments as USD continues to dominate

Flows of the yuan between Asia-Pacific and both the UK and wider Europe have shown strong growth between Q4 2012 and Q4 2014. For example, looking specifically at yuan payments from the UK to Asia-Pacific, the proportion of payments are up from 0.7% to 4.5% by value during a two year period, and up from 0.4% to 3.6% in the reverse direction, making it the sixth most active global currency for these regional flows.

However, the USD remains internationally dominant, accounting for 51.9% of currency usage overall by value, up from 47.6% in 2012, and with a reach of 79.5% for inter-regional flows (excluding intra-regional and domestic flows), according to the Worldwide Currency Usage and Trends paper produced by SWIFT.

Key findings also show that there has been an overall growth in the value of global trade payments, with the biggest flow of payments found between Europe and the Americas (up by 32% from Q4 2012 to Q4 2014). The EUR ranks second by value globally, at 30.5% (down from 33% in 2012) and the GBP is ranked third with 5.4% (down from 5.9% in 2012).

The report also shows that UK banks continue to be the major trading partner in more than half of all European payment flows overall. This is reflected in the intermediary role the UK plays for some currencies. For example, the UK acts as an intermediary for over two thirds (68%) of the euro payments by volume that the UK receives from the Americas. The UK also plays a significant intermediary role for Chinese yuan payments (51.3% of volume) reaching the UK from the Americas.