Chinese banks eye use of digital yuan in investment and insurance

Two leading state-run Chinese banks are now working with investment fund managers and insurance companies to find new applications for the digital yuan (e-CNY) issued by the People’s Bank of China.

The state-owned China Construction Bank (CCB) and Bank of Communications (Bocom), revealed they are aiming to allow e-CNY holders to acquire investment funds and insurance products using the new currency.

The banks hope their efforts could result in other uses for the e-CNY “beyond the low value, daily retail payments.

CCB has teamed up with Shanghai Tiantian Fund Distribution to enable digital yuan users to make fund investments online. The platform is owned by financial data services provider East Money, the report details. Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is also supporting the initiative. The bank’s Executive Vice-President Zhang Min remarked:

CCB has so far opened over 8.4 million digital wallets for individuals and businesses and processed 8.5 million digital yuan transactions, as of June this year, for 18.9 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, BoCom is exploring options to use the e-CNY to fund management and insurance companies.

Bocom Executive Vice-President Qian Bin noted that e-CNY is a form of legal tender, and it's their duty as a commercial bank to facilitate its development and liquidity.

China has been conducting digital yuan trials across 11 pilot areas and cities.

As of the end of June, 34.5 billion yuan had been spent via 70.75 million transactions. Chinese authorities have also dispersed over $41 million of e-CNY in red envelope campaigns.