Following the guiding principles set forth at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee to steadily develop the digital yuan, and under the guidance of the People's Bank of China, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has successfully conducted a pilot operation for its cross-border digital yuan payment platform. This initiative provides a robust foundation for the official launch of related services, effectively contributing to the enhancement of cross-border payment efficiency and service standards.
On September 24, 2025, the People's Bank of China announced the official commencement of operations for the Digital Yuan International Operations Center and launched the cross-border digital yuan payment platform, offering a "Chinese solution" for central bank digital currency (CBDC) cross-border payment cooperation. Leveraging its global service network and expertise in digital yuan operations, ICBC is actively supporting the development of this platform. Notably, ICBC's Singapore Branch successfully implemented the digital yuan cooperation outcomes announced at the 2025 China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), pioneering an innovative pilot for overseas top-ups of individual digital yuan wallets to facilitate spending by Singaporean tourists in China. Concurrently, through coordinated efforts between its Vientiane Branch and Shandong Branch, ICBC processed the first-ever cross-border digital yuan remittance under an international trade agreement between China and Laos, safeguarding cross-border payments for "going global" enterprises and further promoting the facilitation of cross-border trade, investment, and financing.
ICBC will fully utilize its group strengths to further expand innovative application scenarios for the digital yuan. The bank is committed to actively supporting the internationalization of the renminbi and the construction of a self-reliant and controllable cross-border payment system for the currency, thereby contributing to the expansion of high-level opening-up.