SWIFT will support the new Chinese cross-border payment system in ensuring harmonisation with global standards and practices.
China International Payment Service Corp. (CIPS Co.) and SWIFT are to work together on an ISO 20022 Rulebook for existing and potential participants of the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS).
Phase 1 of CIPS has been live for a year and is currently adopting ISO 20022 standards to facilitate straight through processing (STP) for participants’ cross-border payments. SWIFT’s global governance and network of SWIFT User and Market Practice groups will be used to facilitate industry agreement on a standardised approach to counterparty communications for CIPS customers. “CIPS is making significant investment in technology to reduce costs and friction for its participants. By partnering with SWIFT, CIPS will enable consistent end-to-end business processes,” says Alain Raes, chief executive, APAC & EMEA at SWIFT. “ISO 20022 is widely recognised as the clearing and settlement messaging standard of the future and it is fitting that CIPS adopt this standard to accelerate the internationalisation of the Renminbi.”
While guidelines for offshore CNY Best Practice and the Chinese Commercial Code (CCC) exist today, SWIFT will use its extensive standards expertise to develop, together with CIPS and its community, a set of specific CIPS implementation guidelines and rules to ensure harmonisation of CIPS ISO 20022 standards with global market practice and the efficient adoption of these standards by CIPS participants. The guidelines will become part of the ISO 20022 Rulebook for CIPS, which will be the foundation for market participants implementing the CIPS standards specifications.
Harmonisation
The Rulebook will contain a set of best practices and recommendations focusing on technical, operational and business rules to help improve STP rates for RMB payments, manage versions of standards, handle Chinese characters and symbols and provide for use of international routing and reference codes and business intelligence tools for analysis and reporting.
“Drawing on SWIFT’s experience in message processing, message standards, interoperability, network construction, data analysis and other areas, this Rulebook will help CIPS provide more efficient and convenient clearing and settlement services to the global financial industry,” says Zhang Xin, general manager, CIPS Co.
By partnering with SWIFT, CIPS will enable consistent end-to-end business processes. （News source：SWIFT）
