Four commercial banks in Georgia have already joined the Chinese interbank payment system CIPS. This was announced by the President of the National Bank of the country, Natia Turnava, during a podcast organized by Cartu Bank. According to her, the system facilitates international payments in yuan amid expanding economic ties between Georgia and China.
Turnava emphasized that CIPS is not an alternative to SWIFT. According to her, these systems perform different tasks and are used in parallel. SWIFT is mainly used for operations in dollars and euros, while CIPS is focused on settlements in Chinese currency. Today, thousands of banks around the world work simultaneously with both systems.
The head of the National Bank noted that the volume of transactions in yuan is gradually growing, and the number of Georgian banks wishing to connect to CIPS may increase. The country's authorities are actively interacting with the People's Bank of China, and participation in the system will allow banks to conduct transactions faster, cheaper, and without intermediaries.