On January 3, the SCO Cross-border RMB Service Center was inaugurated at the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Comprehensive Service Platform and completed its first cross-border RMB settlement. This marks an important milestone of the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area in serving the national strategy and building a cross-border RMB settlement system for SCO countries.

The Center gathers information on demands for economic, trade, and financial services of SCO countries and focuses on RMB business research and innovation for SCO countries. It provides one-stop services such as characterized RMB financing, international settlement, cash management, asset management, and RMB clearing business for market participants as well as more convenient settlement channels for economic and trade investment exchanges between SCO countries to effectively improve the level of trade facilitation. At present, the Center has established cooperation relationships with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Qingdao Branch, the Bank of China Qingdao Branch, and some other financial institutions. ICBC has set up cross-border RMB clearing centers in 10 countries and established clearing channels and networks through online cross-border settlement and payment systems.