What does the cross-border payment system mentioned by BRICS mean?

From the 22nd to the 24th of month 0, the 16th BRICS Summit was held in Kazan, Russia. In the "Kazan Declaration of the 16th BRICS Summit," two key terms have attracted widespread attention:

• Cross-border payment system
• "BRICS securities depository and settlement infrastructure"

What do these terms mean? What new developments are there in economic and financial cooperation among BRICS countries? Tan Zhu exclusively interviewed Qiang Jianxin, Vice Secretary-General of the Emerging Economies Research Association and Dean of the School of Economics and Finance at the School of International Relations, to help you understand the new changes in economic and financial cooperation among BRICS countries in one article.

The cross-border payment system is a cross-border financial infrastructure. We can use an analogy of a "highway network." Just as there are various trucks and cars moving on the highway network, the cross-border payment system is actually the "highway" in the international financial field, through which currency funds flow.

In a complete cross-border payment system, it includes payment tools, payment institutions (mainly banks), and clearing systems. Payment refers to the transfer of currency funds, or the process of transferring acceptable monetary claims from the payer to the payee. The complete payment process mainly includes three stages: transaction, clearing, and settlement, with clearing and settlement being specific stages in the payment process.

• Settlement refers to the final transfer and delivery of currency funds between the payee and the payer. Faced with a large number of transactions, we cannot settle each one by one, so countries also need to establish clearing systems for clearing.
• Clearing is the process of matching, transmitting, aggregating, and clearing payment information data, which is the process and method of settling multilateral monetary claims and debts.

The Kazan Declaration deals with the cross-border payment system in different stages and elements, from payment currencies, cross-border payment agent bank networks, to the "BRICS securities depository and settlement infrastructure," which is actually a specific process from easy to difficult. From this, it can be seen that BRICS countries are advancing economic and financial cooperation, not only with grand systemic goals, but also with practical and realistic specific measures.

The current cross-border payment system is actually a complex system, mainly consisting of two parts: cross-border payment systems denominated in domestic currencies, and cross-border payment message transmission systems. The former is represented by the Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS) in New York, USA, and the latter is represented by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).

The cross-border payment system involves central banks, commercial banks of various countries, as well as related information and technology support institutions.

• The Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS) in New York is the world's largest private US dollar payment clearing system, processing about 95% of global cross-border dollar transactions.
• The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) does not perform the function of payment or transfer of currency funds. Its main function is the transmission of transaction information Therefore, the cross-border payment systems of various countries need a message transmission system to connect them, forming a complete cross-border payment system.

First of all, the current mainstream cross-border payment system has high costs because it involves many nodes in the entire process. For example, if companies between two countries want to conduct transactions, it needs to involve at least the central banks of the two countries, commercial banks, as well as other intermediary agencies and complex processes between the two countries. This indirectly leads to the problem of low efficiency.

Secondly, existing cross-border transactions involve the issue of currency selection. The vast majority of transactions need to be conducted using the US dollar, which poses exchange rate risks for countries whose currency is not the US dollar, and may affect financial stability.

In addition, the current cross-border payment system also shows insufficient inclusiveness. This is mainly because the mainstream cross-border payment system heavily relies on the functions of banks, requiring the widespread presence of bank branches for business operations. Therefore, in many small villages and underdeveloped areas around the world, especially in low-income countries, their banking networks are often not as developed, causing many people to be unable to use this system for cross-border transactions.

On the other hand, excessive reliance on a single payment system also poses security issues. Once the cross-border payment system is disrupted, it is equivalent to cutting off a country's "expressway" for foreign trade.

Further cooperation in the economic and financial fields among BRICS countries will inevitably consider improving the existing payment system, leveraging their latecomer advantages, and using more advanced technologies to overcome the problems in the current system.

Ushakov, a foreign policy advisor to the Russian president, stated in a previous interview that cooperation among BRICS countries in the cross-border payment system will be based on digital technology and advanced tools such as blockchain. This will effectively address the current issues of low efficiency, high costs, and insufficient inclusiveness in the cross-border payment system. The establishment of a common cross-border payment system among BRICS countries will be a steady and gradual process, and its prospects need further observation.

Author: Yu Yuantan, Source: CCTV News, Original Title: "What Does BRICS Mention of Cross-Border Payment System Mean?"