“Of the 160 countries that settled payments with Hong Kong and the mainland last month, 47 had at least 10 per cent of their transfers made out in the yuan, according to SWIFT, a global member-owned co-operative servicing financial institutions. The number of countries ‘crossing the RMB river’, or having at least 10 per cent of payments valued in the yuan, grew 9 per cent in the nine months to April this year, SWIFT said in a report yesterday. Italy and Russia are among the major adopters of the yuan. Other places where the currency is increasingly popular for payments include Britain and Singapore, the organisation said.”
