GLOBAL PAYMENTS KNOWLEDGEISO 20022 / SWIFT / SEPA / MT / MX
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CIPS cross-border RMB payment

Asha Traders pays a Chinese supplier in renminbi; the payment clears and settles onshore through CIPS, the PBoC-overseen cross-border RMB system.

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Contributor Shubham Mathure

STEP 1 / 6MESSAGE

Bank Alfa sends the RMB instruction to its direct participant

Bank Alfa (payer's bank, CIPS indirect participant) → Cassia Bank (CIPS direct participant, onshore) · RMB payment instruction

Bank Alfa is an indirect participant abroad: it cannot submit to CIPS itself, so it sends the renminbi payment instruction for Asha Traders to Cassia Bank, the onshore CIPS direct participant it reaches the system through.

Ledger effect

  • DRAsha Traders' account at Bank Alfa — CNY 500,000.00

What can go wrong here

  • INFO The onshore direct participant is missing information CIPS requires

Step 1 of 6: Bank Alfa sends the RMB instruction to its direct participant

  1. 01Message
    Bank Alfa sends the RMB instruction to its direct participantBank Alfa (payer's bank, CIPS indirect participant) → Cassia Bank (CIPS direct participant, onshore) · RMB payment instruction
  2. 02Message
    Cassia submits the payment into CIPSCassia Bank (CIPS direct participant, onshore) → CIPS (Cross-border Interbank Payment System) · CIPS payment message
  3. 03Clearing obligation
    CIPS processes and clears the paymentCIPS (Cross-border Interbank Payment System)
  4. 04Settlement
    The renminbi settles onshore under PBoC oversightPBoC settlement (People's Bank of China)
  5. 05Message
    CIPS delivers the payment to NordbankCIPS (Cross-border Interbank Payment System) → Nordbank (supplier's bank in China) · CIPS payment message
  6. 06Posting
    Nordbank credits the Chinese supplierNordbank (supplier's bank in China)
MESSAGECLEARING OBLIGATIONSETTLEMENTPOSTING
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
  1. 01Message
    Bank Alfa sends the RMB instruction to its direct participantBank Alfa (payer's bank, CIPS indirect participant) → Cassia Bank (CIPS direct participant, onshore) · RMB payment instruction

    Bank Alfa is an indirect participant abroad: it cannot submit to CIPS itself, so it sends the renminbi payment instruction for Asha Traders to Cassia Bank, the onshore CIPS direct participant it reaches the system through.

    • DR Asha Traders' account at Bank Alfa — CNY 500,000.00
  2. 02Message
    Cassia submits the payment into CIPSCassia Bank (CIPS direct participant, onshore) → CIPS (Cross-border Interbank Payment System) · CIPS payment message

    As a direct participant with a settlement account, Cassia submits the payment into CIPS using standardized messaging — CIPS accepts SWIFT among other formats — so the instruction travels in a structure every onshore participant reads.

  3. 03Clearing obligation
    CIPS processes and clears the paymentCIPS (Cross-border Interbank Payment System)

    CIPS validates the instruction and clears it per its rulebook, working out what each direct participant owes so the cross-border renminbi obligation is ready to settle onshore.

    CIPS is a distinct RMB clearing system. It may carry instructions over SWIFT messaging, but it is not SWIFT — it clears and settles renminbi between its own participants.

  4. 04Settlement
    The renminbi settles onshore under PBoC oversightPBoC settlement (People's Bank of China)

    The funds settle onshore between the direct participants' accounts through PBoC-approved settlement arrangements — money actually moves under the oversight of the People's Bank of China, not just a message.

    • DR Cassia's onshore settlement account (PBoC-approved) — CNY 500,000.00
    • CR Nordbank's onshore settlement account (PBoC-approved) — CNY 500,000.00
  5. 05Message
    CIPS delivers the payment to NordbankCIPS (Cross-border Interbank Payment System) → Nordbank (supplier's bank in China) · CIPS payment message

    With the obligation settled onshore, CIPS delivers the payment details to Nordbank, the supplier's bank in China, so it knows exactly what to credit and to whom.

  6. 06Posting
    Nordbank credits the Chinese supplierNordbank (supplier's bank in China)

    Nordbank books the credit to the supplier's account, completing the transfer — cross-border RMB payments through CIPS typically finish same-day or by the next business day (T+1).

    • CR Chinese supplier's account at Nordbank — CNY 500,000.00

What this simplifies: One indirect participant, one direct participant, and a single onshore settlement leg; the precise PBoC-approved clearing-bank and account arrangements, FX conversion, and message-format specifics are omitted.

LEARN THE CONCEPTS BEHIND THIS FLOW

Sources for this flow2
  1. Official requirement

    CIPS (Cross-border Interbank Payment System) ↗ — Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS Co., Ltd.)

    Describes CIPS, the Cross-border Interbank Payment System authorized and overseen by the Peoples Bank of China (launched 2015): a wholesale system specializing in RMB cross-border clearing and settlement between direct and indirect participants, using SWIFT and its own messaging, settling onshore through PBoC-approved arrangements, typically same-day or T+1. · Checked 2026-07-14

    CIPS clears and settles cross-border RMB; it uses SWIFT messaging alongside its own network and settles onshore under PBoC oversight.

  2. Simplified educational illustration

    Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal

    This site's own simplified teaching models. · Checked 2026-07-12

    What this simplifies: One indirect participant reaching CIPS through one direct participant; PBoC-approved settlement is shown as a single onshore leg rather than the specific account and clearing-bank arrangements that vary by participant.

    Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.