At the beginning of 2026, the cross-border payment field will usher in a historic opportunity.
The People’s Bank of China has made it clear that it will accelerate the construction of the RMB cross-border payment system, and the new version of CIPS (RMB Cross-border Payment System) rules will be officially implemented on February 1. Policy dividends such as lowering the access threshold for overseas institutions and the implementation of the hybrid settlement model will be intensively released.
This series of actions not only marks the acceleration of the internationalization of the RMB, but also makes the cross-border payment industry chain the focus of the capital market.
With policy catalysis and industrial upgrading, cross-border payment has ushered in a golden development period.
As the “highway” for the cross-border circulation of RMB, the CIPS system has covered 189 countries and regions around the world as of September 2025. The business volume processed in 2024 will exceed 175 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43%.
This new regulation optimizes account management, settlement efficiency, risk prevention and control from multiple dimensions, and clarifies for the first time that overseas institutions can entrust non-domestic banks as fund custodians, significantly lowering the threshold for foreign investment participation.
At the same time, the pilot integration of digital renminbi and CIPS has accelerated, and blockchain technology has enabled cross-border payment efficiency improvements, opening up room for growth for industry chain companies.
Let’s analyze the core targets of the four major tracks.
The first is technical service providers, who are the “shovel sellers” of infrastructure upgrades.
CIPS expansion and digital currency cross-border pilots have created a need for system transformation, directly benefiting companies with underlying technical capabilities.
For example, Sifang Jingchuang (300468) is deeply involved in the construction of multilateral central bank digital currency bridges and leads the development of sub-second settlement systems for cross-border transactions; Xinchen Technology (300542), self-developed “Galaxy” system to achieve dual-channel docking of CIPS and SWIFT, and blockchain patents cover the entire payment process; China Information (000555), provides CIPS docking solutions for many banks and participates in Singapore’s pilot technology transformation.
Scene operators are the “hidden champions” of traffic portals.
A payment service provider that is tied to real trade scenarios has high certainty of performance growth.
For example, Commodity City (600415), its Yipay service covers 150+ countries, and cross-border collections exceeded US$2.5 billion in the first half of 2025; Hailian Jinhui (002537) holds full licenses to serve banks in 14 countries, and its cross-border payment business accounts for 31%; Lakala (300773), the digital renminbi cross-border acquiring business is accelerating, adapting to global mainstream payment terminals.
Financial carrier is the “core engine” of the capital hub.
CIPS direct participants undertake the core functions of cross-border clearing, and state-owned banks and specialty institutions have significant advantages.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398) is one of the first batch of direct participating banks in CIPS, ranking first in cross-border RMB settlement volume for five consecutive years; China Merchants Bank (600036), a leader in cross-border financial digital services, with a digital wallet binding rate exceeding the industry average; CNPC Capital (000617), relying on the energy cross-border settlement scenario, the scale of China-Iran oil trade settlement is at the forefront of the industry.
Security and hardware matching are the “guardians” of payment security.
In the context of tighter regulations, the demand for encryption technology and terminal equipment has surged.
Guangdian Express (002152), with a digital RMB hardware wallet market share exceeding 40%, and cross-border terminals covering 10 Southeast Asian countries; New World (000997), with a global market share of smart POS terminals of 43.7%, supporting multi-currency real-time clearing; Chu Tianlong (003040), a commemorative hard wallet customized for China-Singapore cross-border scenarios for Bank of China, adapted to digital RMB applications.
The explosive growth of the cross-border payment industry chain is essentially the epitome of the deep integration of RMB internationalization and the digital economy.
From a policy perspective, CIPS rule optimization and digital RMB cross-border pilots form a “two-wheel drive”; from an industrial perspective, technological upgrades and scenario expansion promote a jump in payment efficiency.
In the short term, the demand for system transformation and hardware upgrades will be the first to release performance; in the medium and long term, the improvement of the digital renminbi cross-border ecology will reshape the global payment pattern.
The trillion-dollar blue ocean market has opened. For companies and investors who want to sell Chinese goods to the world, it is crucial to grasp the investment logic of the cross-border payment industry chain.
