Following the successful pilot scheme run in Shenzhen in which a total of 10 million digital yuan was distributed to 50,000 winners of red envelopes in a lottery format draw, Suzhou will now be the second Chinese city to roll out a “red envelope” trial for the forthcoming digital currency. The launch of the digital RMB red envelopes will coincide with the Double 12 shopping festival which takes place on December 12th. Many businesses have reportedly already installed near-field communication QR codes in anticipation of the trial.

Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing Limited (HKEX) intends to introduce HKEX Synapse, a new settlement acceleration platform for its landmark Stock Connect program. HKEX Synapse will automate and streamline post-trade processes, underpinning the growth of global investors accessing the Mainland China market via Stock Connect. Targeting production in Q1 2022, HKEX Synapse will improve the efficiency and transparency of Northbound Stock Connect settlement for institutional investors.

On November 25th, Ant Group’s Jiebei online cash loan platform launched a new “Benefit Installment" (惠分期) service for certain users. Compared with Jiebei, monthly interest rates of Benefit Installment are as low as 0.65%. Although Benefit Installment charges a lower rate, the way the fixed installments are structured allows Jiebei to lock in more profits. In a like-for-like comparison with Jiebei, however, it will generally be more favorable for borrowers to use the Benefit Installment service.

On November 13th, the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC’s) Digital Currency Research Institute signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Lakala, China's leading integrated financial service platform. Both parties will combine their respective advantages to jointly promote the functional application of digital renminbi in the retail payment field. Lakala stated that it will actively cooperate with the Digital Currency Research Institute to improve the quality and efficiency of financial services in the real economy and boost the digital economy.

On November 13th, the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC’s) Digital Currency Research Institute signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Lakala, China's leading integrated financial service platform. Both parties will combine their respective advantages to jointly promote the functional application of digital renminbi in the retail payment field. Lakala stated that it will actively cooperate with the Digital Currency Research Institute to improve the quality and efficiency of financial services in the real economy and boost the digital economy.

According to data released by China’s Nets Union Clearing Corporation (网联清算平台), the Nets Union platform processed 20.4 billion cross-institutional online payment transactions on November 11th, China’s Singles’ Day. Total transactions were valued at 14.1 trillion yuan, 42.6% higher from the year before. Transactions processed by the Nets Union platform exceeded 93,500 transactions per second at one point in the day, a historical record. Online payment transactions during Singles’ Day have the characteristics of long guarantee time, multiple peak times, multiple participating institutions and large transaction scale.

Liu Yingbin, senior assistant president of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on November 4th that the HKMA had been closely following the developments of the PBoC’s national digital currency. He said that while on the Mainland such electronic payments would be mainly used for retail payments, Hong Kong’s situation was different and that the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) studied by the HKMA would be mainly used for commercial cross-border payment purposes. In May 2019, the HKMA and the Bank of Thailand initiated Project Inthanon-LionRock to study the application of CBDC to cross-border payments. Meanwhile, Yi Gang, the PBoC’s governor, said the Chinese central bank was open to collaborating with other monetary authorities in establishing a legal framework for adopting and promoting the use of digital fiat currencies.

In the latest sign that China's national digital currency (DCEP) is likely to be technically ready for launch, Huawei has revealed that its latest Mate 40 line of devices will feature a built-in hardware wallet with hardware-level security, controllable anonymous protection, and dual offline transactions. Huawei has partnered with China's central bank to promote digital yuan pilot innovative applications. Users will be able to use the device as a digital wallet to shop at multiple outlets in the country. They will also be able to initiate transactions when they are offline.

In a speech at the Sibos banking and financial conference on October 2nd, Fan Yifei, a deputy governor at the central bank, said that China’s sovereign digital currency (DCEP), had already been used for more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$ 162 million) worth of transactions. As of late August, 3.13 million transactions had been processed using the currency, which has been undergoing tests for much of the past year in major cities, such as Shenzhen and Xiongan. Pilots also will be conducted at the coming Winter Olympics in 2022. Fan said that the “PBOC regards digital renminbi as an important financial infrastructure for the future.”

On October 23rd, YinSheng E-Pay (银盛支付) successfully completed its system docking with Express (Hangzhou) Technology Services Co., Ltd. (连通(杭州)技术服务有限公司), the Chinese joint venture (JV) launched by American Express. YinSheng E-Pay will now be able to provide clearing services for the renminbi transactions of American Express. In June, the PBoC and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) approved the JV’s application to become a bank card clearing organization. YinSheng E-Pay is one of the JV’s first batch partners. YinSheng E-Pay will now upgrade its merchant terminals to ensure that merchants can accept payments from American Express’ renminbi credit cards.

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