SWIFT, PBoC Launch Joint Venture in China
- SWIFT and China’s national bank have launched a joint company in Beijing.
- The company is set to help its shareholders comply with Chinese regulation, SWIFT said.
The People’s Bank of China in Shanghai, China on 22 March 2020. Shutterstock
Global interbank settlement organization SWIFT has partnered with the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) to launch a financial gateway company in China.
The joint entity, called Finance Gateway Information Services Co., was established in Beijing on 16 January. According to the website of the National Enterprise Credit Information Public System, the company’s business scope includes information system integration, data processing, and technological consultancy.
“SWIFT and four payments market participants and infrastructure providers are setting up a joint venture to comply with Chinese regulatory requirements,” SWIFT said in a statement to Reuters on Thursday.
Other company shareholders include China’s National Clearing Center (CNCC), China’s Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), and the Payment and Clearing Association of China, both supervised by the People’s Bank of China.
Publicly available information has shown that the Beijing-based firm has around $12 million in incorporated capital, with its largest shareholder SWIFT contributing over half of the investment. PBoC’s clearing center invested around $4.1 million, records have shown.
The company’s board currently consists of five members, including Changchun Mu, the head of PBoC’s Digital Currency Research Institute (DCRI), as well as Meilun Huang, the chief executive of SWIFT’s China branch.
In 2019, SWIFT set up a wholly foreign-owned unit in Beijing to support the country’s efforts to internationalize the renminbi. According to Reuters, the joint venture is seen as a sign that China wants to explore the global use of its upcoming digital yuan.
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Office building of the People’s Bank of China. Flickr
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