Four of China’s big state-owned banks have commenced testing of an app for use with the country’s new central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to a 6 August report from 21st Century Business Herald.
Banks participating in the tests include Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), ICBC, Bank of China (BOC) and China Construction Bank (CCB).
The testing has been ongoing for the past several months, with some bank staff already making use of CBDC for purposes including account transfers and payment of party and union membership fees.
Major Chinese commercial banks in Shenzhen, South China’s Guangdong Province, have started testing the application of the central bank-backed digital currency in recent days among their internal employees, under which the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) is used for payments and transfers.
Users can top up the digital wallet by online banking or by using their bank card. So far, the app is not available for public downloads.
The application of DCEP in the tests includes topping-up, withdrawing deposits, transferring payments and paying by QR code, although tests for the last function are rare due to limited consumption scenarios.
In addition to Shenzhen, the pilot tests of the central bank’s digital currency are ongoing in Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province, Chengdu, capital of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province as well as in the Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province.
China first commenced research into the development of a CBDC in 2014, with People’s Bank of China (PBOC) officials alluding to the “imminent” release of a statutory digital currency at a press conference in August 2019.
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