Recently, under the guidance and policy direction of the Shanwei Branch of the People’s Bank of China and the Shanwei Branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the Shanwei Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China processed Shanwei’s first cross-border payment transaction under the Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge for goods trade for a local import and export company. This marks a new breakthrough in the local cross-border payment field. The Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge (hereinafter referred to as the “Currency Bridge”) is a cross-border payment innovation project jointly initiated and promoted by the Innovation Centre of the Bank for International Settlements (Hong Kong), the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Central Bank of Thailand, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, and the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China. Based on blockchain and distributed ledger technology, the project aims to achieve interconnection and interoperability of central bank digital currencies from multiple countries, improve the efficiency of cross-border payments, reduce transaction costs, and enhance transparency and security. Under the overall planning and policy guidance of the People’s Bank of China, the “Currency Bridge” project has been steadily advancing, laying a solid foundation for innovative development in the field of cross-border payments. In this transaction, the Agricultural Bank of China’s Shanwei branch, within the framework of the People’s Bank of China’s cross-border payment innovation, processed a RMB 22 million cross-border payment for an import and export company through the “Currency Bridge.” A company representative stated, “Compared to traditional cross-border remittances, the ‘Currency Bridge’ service achieves ‘instant’ fund arrival, significantly improving efficiency and reducing costs.” Traditional cross-border payments often face problems such as cumbersome procedures, long arrival times, and high fees. The emergence of the “Currency Bridge” service effectively solves these pain points, providing great convenience for enterprises’ cash flow.
Under the service system framework of “policy guidance, platform construction, and risk prevention and control” built by the management department of the Shanwei Branch of the People’s Bank of China, the Shanwei Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China closely follows the digital finance development strategy and actively participates in the innovative pilot project of “Money Bridge”. As a large state-owned commercial bank, the Shanwei Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China fully leverages its role as the main force in local financial services, making the implementation of “Money Bridge” business a key task. Through specialized training, process optimization, and technological empowerment, it continuously improves its cross-border financial service capabilities.
Specialized training enables employees to gain a deep understanding of the principles and operating procedures of “Money Bridge” business, improving the professionalism of business processing; process optimization reduces unnecessary steps and increases the speed of business processing; technological empowerment makes the system more stable and secure, ensuring the smooth operation of the business.
Moving forward, the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) Shanwei Branch will continue to uphold its commitment to serving the people and the real economy, and under the guidance of regulatory policies, will continue to explore the application of technologies such as digital currency and blockchain in broader scenarios such as supply chain finance and trade finance. With the continuous development of the digital economy, the application prospects of digital currency and blockchain technology are very broad. This initiative by ABC Shanwei Branch will not only help expand and innovate its own business, but will also inject new vitality into the local economic development. It is believed that in the future, the “currency bridge” business will play a role in more areas, bringing more convenience and opportunities to cross-border trade and financial cooperation.
