China's share of global SWIFT payments slips to 2.85% in April, down from 3.1%

China’s share of global payments processed through the SWIFT network dropped to 2.85% in April, down from 3.10% in the prior period.

The numbers in context

When you’re operating at a base of roughly 3% of global payments, a drop from 3.10% to 2.85% represents a meaningful relative decline of about 8%. SWIFT’s broader data for April 2025 shows the RMB holding a 3.5% share of total global payments when measured by a slightly different methodology, ranking it fifth globally. Exclude intra-Eurozone transactions, which inflate the euro’s numbers, and the RMB’s share falls further to just 2.38%, pushing it down to sixth place.

The actual value of RMB-denominated payments through SWIFT fell 14.14% month-over-month. Meanwhile, overall global payment values across all currencies rose 1.35% over the same period.

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