中国人民币成全球第8大支付货币

The popularity of China’s renminbi surged last December, consolidating the currency’s rise past 22 others over the past three years to rank as the eighth most used for payments in the world.

人民币的受欢迎程度在去年12月急剧提高，加强了这种货币在国际货币排名中的上升势头——过去三年，人民币超过了22种其他货币，成为世界上第8大用于支付的货币。

Factors including its appreciation, ballooning trade volumes and the ­currency’s increasing attractiveness as a conduit for portfolio investments contributed to an upsurge in usage that Swift, the ­payments company, put at 15 per cent between November and December last year.

人民币不断升值、交易量的急剧扩大及这种货币作为投资组合渠道的吸引力越来越大，所有这些因素都推动其使用量激增——据支付公司Swift估算，去年11月到12月间其使用量增长15%。

“The fact that between November and December 2013 other currencies grew seven per cent while the RMB grew 15 per cent . . .  might suggest that use of the Chinese currency is becoming business as usual for the world’s financial institutions and corporates,” said Franck de Praetere, head of payments and trade markets for Asia- Pacific at Swift.

Swift亚太区支付和贸易市场主管弗兰克•德普拉泰尔(Franck de Praetere)表示：“2013年11月到12月，其他货币的支付量增长了7%，而人民币增长了15%。这一事实……可能意味着，对世界各地的金融机构和企业来说，使用人民币正在成为一种常态化的操作。”

The renminbi’s 2 per cent appreciation against the US dollar in 2013 has helped reinforce the currency’s attractiveness as a store of value, boosting its liquidity in Hong Kong and making it more readily available to settle trade and retail transactions from around the world.

2013年人民币兑美元汇率上涨了2%，这也有助于加强这种货币作为保值手段的吸引力，并提高了它在香港的流动性，使得它更易于获取，用于结算世界各地的贸易和零售交易。

Some 74 per cent of renminbi payments are concentrated in Hong Kong, according to Swift, but the UK, Singapore and Taiwan are also seeing strong growth.

根据Swift的数据，大约74%的人民币支付活动发生在香港，不过英国、新加坡和台湾也出现了强劲增长。

But even though renminbi usage for payments around the world is surging, in absolute terms it remains a distant laggard behind the US dollar and the euro, which accounted for 39.5 per cent and 33.2 per cent of payment transactions in December, compared with 1.1 per cent for the renminbi.

然而，即便世界各地的人民币付款正在激增，若以绝对值衡量，它依然远远落后于美元和欧元，两者在12月分别占了支付交易的39.5%和33.2%，相比之下人民币仅占1.1%。

The Chinese currency is gaining fast on the Swiss franc – the seventh most used currency – which accounted for 1.3 per cent of payments in December.

而与第7种应用最广的货币——瑞士法郎——相比，人民币正在迅速逼近。去年12月瑞士法郎占支付交易的比例为1.3%。

John Laurens, HSBC’s regional head of payments and cash management in Asia-Pacific, called upon company treasurers to keep attuned to renminbi developments to benefit from opportunities that the currency provides.

汇丰(HSBC)亚太区支付和现金管理部门主管约翰•劳伦斯(John Laurens)呼吁企业财务主管紧跟人民币的发展动态，以便获益于这种货币带来的机遇。

The main advantage of trading directly in renminbi, rather than through a settlement currency such as the US dollar, was that it cut down uncertainties and the costs of doing business, bankers said.

银行家们表示，直接使用人民币进行交易，而不是通过美元之类的第三方结算货币的好处是，这么做能减少不确定性，降低开展业务的成本。

“The RMB continues to solidify its position as a global currency and we expect that in the next five years it will become convertible,” Mr Laurens said.

劳伦斯表示：“人民币仍在继续巩固其全球货币地位，我们预计今后五年里人民币将能自由兑换。”