China to make breakthrough in yuan-based cross-border payment

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China would manage to make breakthrough in yuan-based cross-border payment system in 2009, People's Bank of China, or the central bank, said in an on-line report.

According to the report reviewing the country's payment system in 2008, China would further develop regional and international cooperation in payments, and improve the yuan-based cross-border trade settlements this year.

The report also pointed out that China's payment system had remained safe, stable and efficient last year despite severe natural disasters and global financial downturn, as a total of 1,131 trillion yuan (about 166 trillion U.S. dollars) had been spent through the payment system, 37.62 times of the GDP last year.

The central bank's high-value payment system (HVPS), core infrastructure of the country's payment system, had conducted 214 million payments worth 64 trillion yuan last year, up 24.42.

China's securities settlement system had remained steady and provided strong support to the securities business, said the report. Trading volume in China's interbank bond market reached 10.46 billion yuan, up 66.03 percent from that of 2007, it said.

According to the report, non-cash payment products, such as bank cards and bill payment, had become more popular among Chinese citizens.

Chinese people had conducted 13.8 payments through non-cash products per capita last year, up 18.1 percent from that of 2007. Up to 24.2 percent of China's retail sales last year had been spent through the bank card system, 2.3 percentage points higher than the 2007 level, it said.