When Singaporean tourists use digital yuan to pay for coffee on the streets of Beijing, and when cross-border e-commerce merchants receive overseas payments within minutes, a policy-driven and technology-enabled revolution in cross-border payments is unfolding.
By the end of 2025, two major policies—the joint promotion of digital yuan cross-border payment pilot programs by eight departments and the revision of CIPS business rules by the People’s Bank of China—have been implemented. Coupled with the blue ocean prospect of the global cross-border payment market exceeding $320 billion by 2030, the cross-border payment sector has become a focus of the capital market. The following four leading companies in specific segments are seizing the commanding heights of the industry by leveraging their advantages in licenses, technology, and application scenarios.
I. Leading Financial IT Companies: Direct Beneficiaries of Policy Dividends Financial IT service providers are the core carriers of cross-border payment system upgrades, directly undertaking bank-side transformation orders and benefiting first from the expansion of CIPS and the advancement of digital currency bridges. Sifang Jingchuang (300468) is considered a “technology benchmark” in the industry. As the only A-share company globally deeply involved in the full-stack construction of multilateral central bank digital currency bridges (mBridges), it leads the development of smart contract protocol layers, achieving sub-second settlement for cross-border transactions, with efficiency more than 90% higher than the traditional SWIFT system. In Q1 2025, cross-border payment revenue accounted for 40% of its total revenue. It is deeply integrated with the Monetary Authority of Singapore project, with northbound funds and JPMorgan Chase simultaneously increasing their holdings, demonstrating high institutional recognition. Changliang Technology (300348) is a “hidden champion” in the CIPS system, providing system upgrade services to 70% of CIPS direct participants in China, covering more than 60 banks. In 2025, it successfully won a bid for the UAE Central Bank project, processing an average of 5 billion yuan in cross-border transactions daily, and its global layout continues to break through.
II. Leading Third-Party Payment Companies: A Double Moat of Licenses and Scenarios
Third-party payment institutions hold scarce cross-border payment licenses and rely on offline merchants and cross-border e-commerce scenarios to become direct recipients of policy implementation. Lakala (300773), as the only A-share listed third-party payment company holding a full cross-border RMB license, can be described as an “all-rounder.” In 2024, its cross-border acquiring scale exceeded RMB 300 billion, with a market share of 15%. In the first half of 2025, its cross-border payment transaction volume surged by 73.5% year-on-year. It not only deeply participates in the domestic pilot program of digital RMB, but also deploys the “overseas tourist payment” scenario in Singapore. Its cross-border digital RMB transactions exceeded RMB 5 billion as early as 2023, covering more than 50 countries, perfectly aligning with the direction of the China-Singapore cross-border payment pilot program. Yiwu Commodity City (600415) has carved out a differentiated path by leveraging the advantages of Yiwu’s supply chain. Its subsidiary, YiwuPay, covers over 150 countries and 25 currencies, with cross-border payments exceeding US$2.5 billion in the first half of 2025. It is about to connect with a Singaporean cross-border e-commerce digital platform, becoming a core payment gateway for cross-border trade scenarios.
III. Hardware Equipment Leaders: Core Force for Offline Scenarios Penetration
The implementation of cross-border payments relies heavily on terminal equipment support, and hardware manufacturers with digital RMB compatibility capabilities are poised for opportunities to expand their application scenarios.
Newland (000997) is a “global benchmark” for payment terminals, with a 43.7% market share in digital RMB POS terminals and global shipments exceeding 100 million units. It has completed cross-border acquiring upgrades in Singapore and Macau and holds a US MSB license, giving it a significant advantage in compliance channels. Its smart POS covers 120 countries, and its dual offline payment patent technology provides stable support for cross-border offline consumption, directly benefiting from the recovery of cross-border tourism consumption. GRG Banking (002152), as a leader in bank smart devices, has a market share of over 40% in digital RMB hardware wallets, and its smart teller machines cover more than 50% of bank branches nationwide. Its cross-border payment terminals have entered the Southeast Asian market, and it has also obtained a Hong Kong MSO license, forming a dual advantage of “hardware + compliance.”
IV. Leaders in Specialized Scenarios: Hidden Champions in Vertical Fields
Some companies focus on specific cross-border scenarios, building competitive barriers that are difficult to replicate based on their resource endowments.
</ … China Oil Capital (000617), leveraging its energy trade resources, has its subsidiary Kunlun Bank as a core channel for cross-border trade settlement between China and Iran. Through the CIPS system, it provides international settlement services for energy trade, directly benefiting from the promotion of RMB pricing and settlement in commodity transactions. In 2024, it processed over 500 billion RMB in cross-border RMB settlements with ASEAN countries, maintaining a stable market share in the Middle East and Central Asia. Hailian Jinhui (002537) possesses a full license for RMB/foreign currency cross-border payments. It was the first in the Qingdao Free Trade Zone to support "interchange between domestic and foreign wallets," serving banks in 14 countries. Its cross-border payment business accounts for approximately 31% of its total business, deeply aligning with the settlement needs of cross-border e-commerce and foreign trade enterprises. Industry Outlook and Risk Warnings: Currently, the cross-border payment sector is experiencing a triple resonance of "policy + technology + demand": the CIPS system covers 189 countries and regions, the digital RMB cross-border pilot program is expanding from Singapore to Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and the proportion of RMB settlement is expected to rise to 5.8% by 2025. Analysts estimate that system upgrades and terminal updates alone could create a market exceeding 100 billion yuan, with leading companies possessing strong technological capabilities and comprehensive licensing resources continuing to dominate. It's important to note that the industry still faces risks such as uncertainty surrounding the pace of pilot program implementation, intensified international competition, and rising compliance costs. Investors should focus on companies with high earnings visibility and solid core competitive advantages. With the accelerated internationalization of the RMB, cross-border payments, as a core infrastructure for financial opening, offer promising long-term growth potential.
