CIPS Regulatory Overhaul | China's Payment Infrastructure Enters Multicurrency Era

China has enacted the first comprehensive revision to the operating rules of its Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) since the platform's 2015 launch. The revised regulations, effective February 2026, remove the system's exclusive focus on renminbi-denominated transactions and introduce provisions for multicurrency settlement capabilities. This represents a structural shift in Beijing's approach to cross-border payment infrastructure, with potential implications for the architecture of global financial flows. The regulatory changes arrive as CIPS marks a decade of rapid expansion, having grown from 19 direct participants at launch to over 1,680 institutions spanning 189 countries and territories.

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