China's currency Renminbi is taking growing position of transaction in world's largest single foreign-exchange trade center UK, as the country overtook Singapore as the second-largest offshore clearing center for yuan by March, market survey said.
The value of UK's RMB payments rose 21 percent between March 2014 and March 2016, financial transaction system Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) said.
The growth pushed UK to account for 6.3 percent of all offshore transaction using RMB at last count, while Singapore has been fell to third place at 4.6 percent. But both are still ranks behind Hong Kong, which processes 72.5 percent of RMB payments.
Stephen Gilderdale, managing director for UK, Ireland and Nordics at SWIFT, said the steady growth in RMB clearance was largely contributed by China Construction Bank's UK branch opened in June 2014.
Analyst also said that the replacement reflects a growing importance that European companies are placing on their commercial relationships in China.
"As other regional cities such as Frankfurt and Paris strive to increase their RMB business, the outlook for European trade and investment flows with China looks increasingly bright," said Eddie Norton, Regional Head of Payments and Cash Management at HSBC Europe.
Globally, yuan's share of global payments rose slightly in March from the previous month to 1.88 per cent in value terms, according to SWIFT data, making it the fifth most active currency for international transactions.
The currency ranked seventh when the SWIFT tracked it in January 2014.
