People's Bank of China Intends To Link e-CNY To Hong Kong's Faster Payment System

Mu Changchun, CEO of the People's Bank of China's Digital Currency Institute (PBoC), said the central bank is working with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) today to test cross-border payment functionality for e-CNY, the central bank digital currency of China.

According to a PBoC spokesperson, the team has conducted preliminary technical tests with a limited number of Hong Kong residents who can create e-CNY wallets with basic functionality such as deposits, transfers and payments with specific merchants.

According to Mu Changchun, the team is now entering the second phase of the research, that is, exploring approaches to the interlinking between e-CNY and the Faster Payment System (FPS), which can further improve the efficiency of payments without changing the payment habits of local residents. Mu hopes that in the future, mainland tourists traveling to Hong Kong will be able to make payments with local merchants using e-CNY, and merchants will be able to receive payments directly in Hong Kong dollars.

Image: Central Banking