The People's Bank of China issued the "Rules for Renminbi Cross-Border Payment System Business" to regulate the business behavior of the Renminbi Cross-Border Payment System (CIPS).

On December 26, in order to meet the needs of the development of cross-border RMB business and strengthen the business management of the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), the People's Bank of China revised the "Business Rules of the RMB Cross-Border Payment System." The CIPS account opened by the operating institution for direct participants should be a zero-balance account, which does not accrue interest, cannot be overdrawn, and has a zero balance at the end of the day. The funds in the CIPS account belong to the direct participant who opened the account, not the operating institution's own property. The operating institution should manage the accounts of participants uniformly. A direct participant can only open one zero-balance account in CIPS. Indirect participants do not open accounts in CIPS. According to the needs of CIPS business, the operating institution can open a clearing account at the People's Bank of China to centrally deposit the settlement funds of participants conducting CIPS business, separate from the operating institution's other funds. Direct participants enjoy corresponding rights based on their CIPS account balance. This account cannot be overdrawn, and the balance at the end of the day is zero. The operating institution cannot open accounts at commercial banks to deposit the settlement funds of CIPS participants, nor can it create idle clearing funds. Direct participants can manage liquidity of their CIPS accounts through a clearing account opened at the People's Bank of China by themselves or their fund custodian bank, according to settlement needs. The full text is as follows: Rules for RMB Cross-Border Payment System Business Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 In order to standardize the behaviors of the RMB Cross-Border Payment System (CIPS), prevent payment risks, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of CIPS operating institutions and participants, clarify the responsibilities of all parties, and enact these rules in accordance with the Law of the People's Bank of China and relevant laws and regulations. Article 2 These rules apply to CIPS operating institutions and CIPS participants. Article 3 The operating institution refers to a company legal person approved by the People's Bank of China to provide cross-border RMB clearing and settlement services to domestic and foreign participants. The People's Bank of China supervises and guides the business of operating institutions in accordance with the law. Article 4 CIPS provides fund clearing and settlement services for cross-border and offshore RMB payment businesses, financial market businesses, and other businesses approved by the People's Bank of China. Article 5 Participants include direct participants and indirect participants. Direct participants refer to domestic and foreign institutions with CIPS accounts, CIPS numbers, and conduct business directly through CIPS. The operating institution should open CIPS accounts for bank-type direct participants and open CIPS accounts for financial market infrastructure-type direct participants according to business needs. Indirect participants refer to institutions that do not open accounts in CIPS but have CIPS numbers and entrust direct participants to conduct business through CIPS. Article 6 The operating institution should establish participant management measures, clarify requirements such as participant joining and exiting management, participant reporting matters, and participant risk management. The operating institution should fulfill the main responsibility for participant management according to the participant management measures, improve internal system processes, and do well in business monitoring and risk prevention. Participants should conduct business in accordance with the participant management measures established by the operating institution. The operating institution should establish and amend participant management measures. After fully evaluating and soliciting the opinions of participants, they should report to the People's Bank of China for the record. Article 7 Foreign institutions that apply to become direct participants may entrust eligible direct participants as fund custodian banks. The management of fund custodian banks joining and exiting is the responsibility of the operating institution. Chapter II Account Management Article 8 The CIPS account opened by the operating institution for direct participants should be a zero-balance account, which does not accrue interest, cannot be overdrawn, and has a zero balance at the end of the day. The funds in the CIPS account belong to the direct participant who opened the account and do not belong to the property of the operating institution. The operating institution should manage the accounts of participants uniformly. A direct participant can only open one zero-balance account in CIPS. Indirect participants do not open accounts in CIPS. Article 9 According to the needs of CIPS business, the operating institution can open a clearing account at the People's Bank of China to centrally deposit the settlement funds of participants conducting CIPS business, and separately account for the funds for other purposes of the operating institution. Based on their CIPS account balance, direct participants enjoy corresponding rights. This account cannot be overdrawn, and the end-of-day balance is zero. The operating institution cannot open accounts at commercial banks to deposit the settlement funds of CIPS participants, nor can it create idle clearing funds. Article 10 Direct participants can manage the liquidity of their CIPS accounts through a clearing account opened at the People's Bank of China by themselves or their fund custodian bank. Chapter III Business Processing Article 11 Bank-type direct participants should conduct payment transactions through CIPS based on customer instructions or the delegation of indirect participants in a per-transaction or batch manner. Financial market infrastructure-type direct participants should organize or participate in fund settlement through CIPS based on the functional needs of their relevant trading systems, securities settlement systems, or central counterparties, and should not expand the service scope, target, or business scenarios without permission. Article 12 Direct participants should apply to the operating institution for message permissions based on their business functions. Direct participants applying for net settlement message permissions should also meet the settlement risk management requirements of the operating institution. Article 13 Bank-type direct participants should ensure that their systems are logged in during CIPS business processing hours. Financial market infrastructure-type direct participants should ensure that their systems are logged in during their business hours overlapping with CIPS. Article 14 Direct participants or indirect participants conducting payment transactions should fill in the business category according to the relevant regulations. Article 15 The operating institution should promptly publish the CIPS working calendar and operating sequence. Direct participants should submit payment transactions to CIPS within the specified time for business processing. Article 16 Direct participants should initiate query transactions through CIPS, and upon receiving a query request, the recipient should respond promptly. Chapter IV Settlement Mechanism Article 17 CIPS should support a hybrid settlement model to meet the settlement needs of different payment businesses. CIPS should conduct real-time full-value settlements for payment transactions initiated per transaction by direct participants and timed net settlements for payment transactions initiated in batches by direct participants. The operating institution can adjust the timing and time of net settlements based on business needs, with adjustments made on the same day. CIPS should support RMB payment, RMB against foreign currency simultaneous settlement (PvP), securities against cash (DvP) settlement, central counterparty central clearing, and other cross-border RMB transaction settlement services based on the fund settlement needs of different financial transactions. Article 18 When processing payment transactions through real-time full-value settlement in CIPS, if the balance in the direct participant's CIPS account is sufficient to cover the payment, CIPS processes it in real-time; if it is insufficient, it is processed in queue in the specified order. CIPS should set up two types of business processing queues: urgent and normal. In the urgent queue, different priorities should be set for different types of businesses. Business transactions in the same priority should be settled on a first-come, first-served basis. Direct participants can adjust the processing order of business transactions in the same priority based on business needs, but should not adjust the processing order of transactions in different queues or priorities. Article 19 CIPS may cancel queued business transactions in the urgent queue based on instructions from direct participants, except for net interbank reconciliations and central counterparty transactions. For payment transactions processed through real-time full-value settlement in CIPS, once the direct participant's CIPS account is debited and the recipient's CIPS account is credited, the transaction cannot be canceled. For payment transactions processed through timed net settlement in CIPS, once the net reconciliation is completed, the transaction cannot be canceled. CIPS should return business transactions in the urgent queue and unconfirmed transactions by direct participants at the end of the day, except for net interbank reconciliations. Article 20 Direct participants should use the payment processing notification messages or payment messages from CIPS as the basis for accounting. Direct participants can use the local date of their domicile as the entry date for their clients. Article 21 CIPS should send payment summary verification information and fund adjustment verification information to bank-type direct participants; and payment verification information and fund adjustment verification information to financial market infrastructure-type direct participants. Direct participants should reconcile their accounts based on the reconciliation data sent by CIPS. Chapter V Risk Management and Emergency Response Article 22 The operating institution should establish a sound risk management framework, develop relevant risk management systems, establish supporting systems and adopt preventive measures, monitor, assess and manage liquidity risks, business risks, operational risks, and various other risks to ensure normal business operations. Article 23 The operating institution and direct participants should establish sound system failure processing and emergency response mechanisms to ensure the security and stable operation of the system, safeguard the continuity of business operations, data integrity, and the security of funds and information. Article 24 The operating institution and direct participants should collect, analyze, and report information on system operation anomalies and emergency events, and establish sound system operation anomaly and emergency event early-warning mechanisms. Article 25 The operating institution and direct participants should establish backup systems related to CIPS, regularly conduct production system and backup system switch drills, to ensure that the backup system can be quickly and efficiently put into use in case of emergency events. Article 26 In the event of a system failure in CIPS, the operating institution should promptly notify all direct participants and relevant parties. In the event of internal system failures in direct participants, they should promptly notify the operating institution. The operating institution and direct participants should cooperate to troubleshoot the failure and restore business operations as soon as possible. Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions Article 27 The operating institution should establish operational guidelines based on these rules, clarifying the specific processes and disciplinary requirements for participants to conduct RMB transactions through CIPS. Separate operational guidelines should be established for processing cross-border Hong Kong dollar and other foreign currency payment transactions through CIPS. The operating institution should sign agreements with direct participants to stipulate relevant rights and obligations. Operational guidelines and agreement texts should be promptly submitted to the People's Bank of China. Article 28 The operating institution is responsible for establishing and publishing CIPS message standards, and the relevant standards should implement the requirements regarding anti-money laundering laws. Direct participants should promptly modify their relevant business systems in accordance with the latest message standards published by the operating institution. Article 29 These rules are interpreted by the People's Bank of China. Article 30 These rules will take effect on February 1, 2026. The "Rules for RMB Cross-Border Payment System Business" (Yin Fa [2018] No. 72 document) is simultaneously repealed.