The central bank has added 12 new digital renminbi business operation institutions.
What impact does this have on commercial banks?

How Can Expanding Digital Renminbi (RMB) Capacity Spark Innovation in Banks?

CNR Beijing, April 3 (Reporter Mi Di) — On the 2nd, the People’s Bank of China announced that CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, Huaxia Bank, China Minsheng Bank, Guangfa Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Zhejiang Commercial Bank, Ningbo Bank, Jiangsu Bank, Bank of Beijing, Bank of Nanjing, and Bank of Suzhou have been added as digital RMB business operation institutions of the banks, and have been connected to the central bank’s digital RMB system. After the newly added institutions complete their business and technical preparations, they will carry out digital RMB business.

The People’s Bank of China said it will, in the next step, orderly expand the number of operation institutions in accordance with market-based and rule-of-law principles, further stimulate the initiative and creativity of market entities, and build an open and inclusive, fair and competitive development environment for digital RMB.

CNR Finance reporter noted that Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People’s Bank of China, previously said at the 2025 Financial Street Forum that digital RMB is the legal digital currency issued and regulated by the People’s Bank of China, and is compatible with emerging technologies such as distributed ledger technology. After years of steady and prudent promotion, the digital RMB ecosystem has been preliminarily established. In the next step, the People’s Bank of China will further optimize the digital RMB management framework, study and optimize the positioning of digital RMB within the monetary layers, and support more commercial banks to become digital RMB business operation institutions.

“We have already set up a Digital RMB International Operations Center in Shanghai, responsible for cross-border cooperation and the use of digital RMB; and in Beijing, we set up a Digital RMB Operations and Management Center, responsible for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the digital RMB system, to promote the development of digital RMB and help build the Capital’s National Financial Management Center.” Pan Gongsheng said at the time.

Relevant data shows that, as of the end of November 2025, digital RMB had cumulatively processed 3.48 billion transactions, with a cumulative transaction amount of 16.7 trillion yuan. Through the digital RMB app, 230 million personal wallets have been opened, and 18.84 million unit wallets have been opened.

Luo Feipeng, a researcher at China Postal Savings Bank, told reporters that with the central bank adding 12 banks as digital RMB operation institutions, more market participants are introduced, promoting competition and innovation in the payment system. This is of positive significance for enhancing the penetration of digital RMB in retail payment scenarios, as well as for advanced function applications such as subsequent cross-border payments and smart contracts.

Luo Feipeng said that for commercial banks, they can use this opportunity to expand new businesses such as payment settlement, scenario-based finance, and data services, to achieve an integrated “payment + scenario + finance” comprehensive service, thereby better enhancing customer stickiness. In this process, commercial banks also need to invest resources in system upgrades and to meet compliance requirements, so as to better promote the rollout and adoption of digital RMB.

Dong Ximiao, Chief Economist of Zhaolian and Deputy Director of the Shanghai Financial and Development Laboratory, told reporters that previously, only six large commercial banks and a few institutions such as China Merchants Bank served as operation institutions. This expansion will bring some joint-stock commercial banks and leading city commercial banks into the group, which is timely and necessary. These joint-stock banks and city commercial banks have a large customer base, local government cooperation resources, and differentiated service capabilities.

“Their participation helps improve the dual-layer operating architecture of digital RMB, thereby forming a richer ecosystem and service capability. This is a specific measure to implement the ‘Action Plan’ set out in the ‘Outline of the “Fifteenth Five-Year Plan”’ for the ‘steady development of digital RMB,’ which will further enhance the inclusiveness of digital RMB services and better meet the public’s demand for safe, convenient, and efficient digital RMB services,” Dong Ximiao said.

Public information shows that, building on the experience of ten years of R&D and pilot trials, the People’s Bank of China previously issued the “Action Plan for Further Strengthening the Digital RMB Management Service System and Related Financial Infrastructure Construction,” and the new-generation digital RMB measurement framework, management system, operating mechanisms, and ecosystem were officially launched and implemented on January 1, 2026.

Dong Ximiao said that in January 2026, digital RMB will officially enter the “2.0 era.” For commercial banks, previously, digital RMB, as a “liability of the People’s Bank of China,” left banks with insufficient motivation to promote it. In the 2.0 era, digital RMB deposits become a source of funds that banks can utilize, strengthening the internal motivation for banks’ commercial promotion. Banks can also develop more deposit, wealth management, and credit products around interest-bearing digital RMB wallets—such as launching digital RMB-exclusive wealth management products—further building a comprehensive ecosystem of “payment + finance.”

“With policy optimization and technological evolution, especially the expansion of operation institutions from 10 to 22, and the comprehensive upgrade in the 2.0 era of digital RMB in terms of its monetary attributes, application scenarios, and cross-border payments, the development space for digital RMB has been fully opened, and future application prospects are broad. This will also further consolidate digital RMB’s leading position among global central bank digital currencies and its voice in rule-making,” Dong Ximiao said.