中國人民幣成全球第8大支付貨幣大綱

The popularity of China’s renminbi surged last December, consolidating the currency’s rise past 22 others over the past three years to rank as the eighth most used for payments in the world.
人民幣的受歡迎程度在去年12月急劇提高，加強了這種貨幣在國際貨幣排名中的上升勢頭——過去三年，人民幣超過了22種其他貨幣，成爲世界上第8大用於支付的貨幣。

Factors including its appreciation, ballooning trade volumes and the ­currency’s increasing attractiveness as a conduit for portfolio investments contributed to an upsurge in usage that Swift, the ­payments company, put at 15 per cent between November and December last year.
人民幣不斷升值、交易量的急劇擴大及這種貨幣作爲投資組合渠道的吸引力越來越大，所有這些因素都推動其使用量激增——據支付公司Swift估算，去年11月到12月間其使用量增長15%。

“The fact that between November and December 2013 other currencies grew seven per cent while the RMB grew 15 per cent . . .  might suggest that use of the Chinese currency is becoming business as usual for the world’s financial institutions and corporates,” said Franck de Praetere, head of payments and trade markets for Asia- Pacific at Swift.
Swift亞太區支付和貿易市場主管弗蘭克•德普拉泰爾(Franck de Praetere)表示：“2013年11月到12月，其他貨幣的支付量增長了7%，而人民幣增長了15%。這一事實……可能意味着，對世界各地的金融機構和企業來說，使用人民幣正在成爲一種常態化的操作。”

The renminbi’s 2 per cent appreciation against the US dollar in 2013 has helped reinforce the currency’s attractiveness as a store of value, boosting its liquidity in Hong Kong and making it more readily available to settle trade and retail transactions from around the world.
2013年人民幣兌美元匯率上漲了2%，這也有助於加強這種貨幣作爲保值手段的吸引力，並提高了它在香港的流動性，使得它更易於獲取，用於結算世界各地的貿易和零售交易。

Some 74 per cent of renminbi payments are concentrated in Hong Kong, according to Swift, but the UK, Singapore and Taiwan are also seeing strong growth.
根據Swift的數據，大約74%的人民幣支付活動發生在香港，不過英國、新加坡和臺灣也出現了強勁增長。

But even though renminbi usage for payments around the world is surging, in absolute terms it remains a distant laggard behind the US dollar and the euro, which accounted for 39.5 per cent and 33.2 per cent of payment transactions in December, compared with 1.1 per cent for the renminbi.
然而，即便世界各地的人民幣付款正在激增，若以絕對值衡量，它依然遠遠落後於美元和歐元，兩者在12月分別佔了支付交易的39.5%和33.2%，相比之下人民幣僅佔1.1%。

The Chinese currency is gaining fast on the Swiss franc – the seventh most used currency – which accounted for 1.3 per cent of payments in December.
而與第7種應用最廣的貨幣——瑞士法郎——相比，人民幣正在迅速逼近。去年12月瑞士法郎佔支付交易的比例爲1.3%。

John Laurens, HSBC’s regional head of payments and cash management in Asia-Pacific, called upon company treasurers to keep attuned to renminbi developments to benefit from opportunities that the currency provides.
匯豐(HSBC)亞太區支付和現金管理部門主管約翰•勞倫斯(John Laurens)呼籲企業財務主管緊跟人民幣的發展動態，以便獲益於這種貨幣帶來的機遇。

The main advantage of trading directly in renminbi, rather than through a settlement currency such as the US dollar, was that it cut down uncertainties and the costs of doing business, bankers said.
銀行家們表示，直接使用人民幣進行交易，而不是通過美元之類的第三方結算貨幣的好處是，這麼做能減少不確定性，降低開展業務的成本。

“The RMB continues to solidify its position as a global currency and we expect that in the next five years it will become convertible,” Mr Laurens said.
勞倫斯表示：“人民幣仍在繼續鞏固其全球貨幣地位，我們預計今後五年裏人民幣將能自由兌換。”