Russia-Ukraine War: Can China replace the SWIFT payments system?

China’s homegrown cross-border payments mechanism – or any new alternative – won’t be strong enough to enable Russia to sidestep being cut off from the world’s biggest interbank payment messaging system, analysts say.

That’s despite reports that suggest SWIFT‘s ban on Russian banks could accelerate the expansion of Beijing’s own system, CIPS, which has gained more prominence amid US threats since 2019 to decouple its economy from China’s.

Ankur Tanwar

After graduating as a Computer Science student and having worked as Data Analyst for two years, Ankur made the switch to the film and entertainment industry. With an affinity for understanding and managing software, Ankur found a talent for video editing and has worked for Asia Financial since launch, as a Video Editor and Producer. Ankur is in charge of the AF TV production unit based in Delhi.