China to open a clearing bank in Russia for trade settlements
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is planning to open a Chinese yuan renminbi (CNY) clearing bank in Russia for trade settlements in yuan and rubles, ICBC Moscow President Song Yang has announced. According to Song, renminbi payments as a portion of China's cross-border payments surged to 23.6% last year. By May 2015, China had local currency swap deals in place with 32 countries, including Russia, worth a total of RMB 3.1tn ($481bn). ICBC hopes that Russia's central bank will start talks with the People's Bank of China as soon as possible to set up the CNY clearing bank which would allow the Russian market to tap into an alternative source of liquid funds and issue yuan bonds. 

Renminbi became the second most used currency in trade finance in 2014, as well as the fifth largest payment currency and the sixth largest foreign exchange currency in the world, according to SWIFT statistics.

"In terms of corporate finance, ICBC has maintained business contacts with Russian customers in many industries, in addition to energy and aviation, [they] also include [the] electricity, mining, chemical, oil and gas, telecommunication, retail, machinery, metallurgy and other industries."

ICBC is ready to help Russian companies in their search for potential investors, the head of the bank's Moscow branch said, citing Chinese banking regulations that control direct investments in a company’s equity.

ICBC currently has nearly 5 million corporate customers and more than 450 million individual customers.

ICBC to Work With Russia on China’s Silk Road Economic Initiative

"ICBC will cooperate closely with Russian corporations and participate together on the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt," Song told RIA Novosti.

China seeks to retrace the historical Silk Road trade route linking the East Asian nation with the West, reenergizing its economic ties with Asia and Africa in the process.