China cross-border finance system will not aid Russia

Significance

One of these is SWIFT, the global interbank messaging system from which Russian banks have been largely excluded since the invasion. This issue has drawn attention to China’s Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), which Beijing developed partly in order to help internationalise the renminbi.

Impacts

• CIPS will not alleviate Russia’s difficulties in accessing the global financial infrastructure.
• Digital financial technologies such as e-wallets could reduce the relevance of services such as SWIFT in the long run.
• The prospect of the renminbi ever replacing the dollar and euro as a top international currency is remote.