SWIFT, a global provider of financial messaging services, has inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), helping integrate China with the broader global SWIFT community, according to a SWIFT statement.

In particular, the MOU will aim to strengthen China’s overseas payment capabilities via SWIFT’s globally utilized infrastructure. The MOU was jointly signed last week between CIPS and SWIFT executives, including SWIFT’s Chief Executive of the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) and Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Alain Raes.

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During H2 2015, SWIFT’s global currency tracker showed a steady uptick in the utilization of the Chinese RMB for payments, which demonstrated the notion of the growing popularity of international payments in China. More recently, SWIFT embarked on a global initiative earlier this year, which helped enhance cross-border transactions via the leveraging of SWIFT’s messaging platform capabilities and global outreach – the initiative was supported by a membership of forty-five leading banks and investing institutions.

According to CIPS Executive Director Li Wei in a recent statement on the MOU: “China International Payment Service Corp. is looking forward to benefiting from SWIFT’s platform and services to provide an efficient and convenient channel to the global financial community.”

“We aim to provide an inclusive platform to capture cross-border RMB flows to all types of participants which will significantly extend the reach of RMB internationalization,” he added.

“SWIFT is a global messaging provider supporting more than 150 payment and settlement systems, and CIPS is a payment system. There are natural synergies between global financial messaging services, such as those provided by SWIFT, and payment systems. Working with such market infrastructures is at the heart of our business,” noted Mr. Raes in an accompanying statement.