The use of the offshore renminbi for customer payments grew faster in Europe than in any other region in September, according to the Swift RMB Tracker.
The bank-owned messaging service reports growth of 109% for European renminbi payments including eurozone and non-eurozone countries since January.
Meanwhile, Asia Pacific countries are falling behind with just 44% growth. The renmimbi ranks number 12 in in the payment currencies of the world, with a market share of 0.86% in September, compared to 0.84% in August.
Swift also reports that renminbi payments increased in value by 4.6% in September, while growth for all payment currencies was 1.2%.
China has recently granted London-based investors the right to use their offshore renminbi and invest it into China under its renminbi qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) programme.
In October, China awarded London an initial quota of 80 billion renminbi (€9.6 billion).
This means London is becoming the first financial hub outside the Greater China region to participate in the RQFII programme, ahead of Singapore and Taiwan.
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