Author: Nomundari A

Do I need a special account to use CIPS?

No. If you already have a yuan (CNY) current account with us, you can initiate cross-border yuan transfers directly using that account.

Transactions sent via CIPS usually arrive within 2-4 hours. In some cases, depending on the recipient bank, it may arrive the next business day.

Yes. CIPS is an international interbank system dedicated to conducting cross-border payments in yuan (CNY) only.

You may send your international yuan transfer through our mobile app, online banking website, or by visiting one of our branches.

Traditional SWIFT-based yuan transfers often require intermediate banks and may take 1–3 days. With CIPS, yuan transactions are processed more rapidly and at lower cost, arriving in the recipient’s account in a much shorter time.

A Direct Participant is a bank or financial institution directly connected to CIPS and able to process payments independently in the system.
An Indirect Participant handles CIPS transactions via a Direct Participant bank rather than having its own direct connection.
Currently, there are around 176 Direct Participants globally, enabling direct yuan transactions with those banks. There are also about 1,531 Indirect Participants that route through Direct Participants.

No. Membership in CIPS spans over 120 countries and regions, with more than 1,700 banks connected globally as of 2025. This means you can use CIPS for international yuan payments to many destinations beyond China.

No. CIPS is specialized for yuan (CNY) cross-border transactions. It does not replace SWIFT, which supports multiple currencies and a broader range of payment types.

CIPS operates under the supervision of the People’s Bank of China and follows international standards for transaction security and data confidentiality.

Any individual or organization that holds a yuan (CNY) account with our bank is eligible to send international yuan payments via CIPS.