France leads eurozone in offshore RMB payments

The RMB continues to ascend the ranks as a major international payments currency.

It is the 13th most-used currency overall with an all-time high market share of 0.74 percent.

Overall, RMB payments grew in value by 32.7 percent, in comparison to the average increase of just 5.1 percent across all currencies, according to SWIFT.

According to a report released by Standard Chartered Bank last week, 150 senior executives it surveyed in 16 locations globally in the first quarter said they planned to increase their use of yuan offshore products.

"Many foreign central banks have expressed an interest in holding more yuan assets, and we expect that within two years the currency will be widely adopted as a reserve currency," said Tommy Ong, a senior vice-president at DBS Bank.

The Reserve Bank of Australia announced on Wednesday it plans to invest 5 percent of its total foreign currency assets in Chinese sovereign bonds, making the currency its fifth-largest reserve currency after the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, and Canadian dollar.

Philip Lowe, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, said the People's Bank of China has approved the purchase of about $1.9 billion's worth.

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group said that further liberalization of the offshore yuan market would improve liquidity and is fundamentally positive for the currency.

Bloomberg contributed to this story