At least eight major banks, including Hong Kong-based China CITIC Bank, have now introduced or are in the process of introducing digital wallets that support China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to local media reports.
The news comes as the mayors of both Beijing and Shanghai announce that the two first-tier cities plan to host large-scale CBDC tests this year and the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) launches its two largest ‘red envelope’ digital yuan giveaways to date, in the cities of Chengdu and Suzhou.
Increased bank support
The six major banks already supporting the development of the digital yuan — Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications and Postal Savings Bank of China — have now been joined by China Merchants Bank as well as Hong Kong-based China CITIC Bank, according to a local media report.
“The six major banks have their own digital renminbi wallet apps,” the report states.
“For example, the digital renminbi wallet app of the Agricultural Bank is called ABC-Android, and the digital renminbi wallet app of China Construction Bank is called Panda.”
“The digital RMB APP (Panda) issued by China Construction Bank not only supports the Construction Bank card, but also supports the binding of the bank cards of eight banks, including China Merchants Bank,” the report adds.
“The Agricultural Bank’s digital renminbi wallet supports the binding of six (without China Merchants and CITIC).”
The Agricultural Bank of China began testing ATMs that support digital yuan in Shenzhen earlier this month.
