China-Europe yuan settlement grows fast in May

The China-Europe settlement of Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, saw fast growth in May, according to a report unveiled Saturday by the Bank of China.

The yuan settlement amount between China's mainland and four European countries -- Germany, Britain, Luxembourg and France -- doubled from a year earlier, with their total taking up a share of 8 percent in China's overall cross-border yuan settlement, the report showed.

In spite of the strong growth in Europe, Asia continued to take the lion's share. Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Vietnam jointly took up 77.5 percent of the total, the report showed.

In May, total cross-border yuan settlement amounted to 594.2 billion yuan (96.67 billion U.S. dollars), surging 52.6 percent year on year.

"The yuan has been used abroad more extensively, with more reasonable regional distribution," the report said.

Last month, China's central bank appointed clearing banks for yuan businesses in London and Frankfurt, and signed two memorandums of understanding on renminbi clearing with the central banks of Luxembourg and France.