Former PBOC head Zhou Xiaochuan further comments that one of the goals for e-RMB is to facilitate cross-border payments for international financial institutions, using technology to realise the vision of an international RMB.
SINGAPORE (July 17): Much interest in e-RMB stems from the global implications of China issuing such a currency. A digital currency, observers speculate, could accelerate the internationalisation of the RMB and threaten the global hegemony of the US dollar. Beijing has sought greater global recognition for RMB since the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, successfully lobbying for RMB to be included as one of the five currencies in the basket forming IMF’s “Special Drawing Rights” (SDR) with the US dollar, pound sterling, euro and Japanese yen.
“No matter what happens, regardless of whatever obstacles we may face, China will resolutely pursue financial reforms and bring about the orderly internationalisation of the Renminbi,” declared Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a September 2015 meeting with then UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.
