Global payments firm Swift says Spain and six other markets now use renminbi for more than 10% of their direct payments by value with China and Hong Kong. This brings to 57 the countries where the Chinese currency is gaining ground in terms of payments.

Apart from Spain, the other countries include Bolivia, Colombia, Mozambique, Namibia, Kuwait and Georgia.

The 10% milestone, also known as “crossing the renminbi river”, is a threshold set by Swift to measure the adoption of renminbi in global payments.

Among the 101 countries using the renminbi for payments, the weight of these payments by value reached 12.9%, giving the currency a nearly 2% increase since October 2014 (11.2%).

 “Over the last two years, we have witnessed a continued increase in renminbi usage for direct payments with China and Hong Kong, with most of the growth coming from early adopters and main renminbi clearing centres, such as Singapore, the United Kingdom and South Korea,” says Astrid Thorsen, head of business intelligence solutions, Swift.

“On the other hand, two of the largest economies in the world and important trade partners with China, the US and Japan, still show low renminbi adoption. The latest announcement related to the appointment of the first renminbi clearing centre in the US should positively impact the country’s renminbi usage,” says Thorsen.

Overall, the renminbi kept its position as the fifth most active currency for global payments by value, with an increased share of 2.03%, compared to 1.86% last month. In September 2016, the value of renminbi global payments value increased by 10.02% compared to August 2016, which is higher than the average growth of 0.93% for all currencies.

“More and more countries are “crossing the river” and making use of the renminbi for a meaningful share of their payments with Hong Kong and China. The latest Swift data shows the Chinese currency continuing to gain critical mass in global payments with another seven nations using renminbi for more than 10% of their direct payments with Hong Kong and China. The inclusion of the renminbi in the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Right basket earlier this month confirms its emergence as a global currency, which will be another catalyst for its growing use in trade and investment with China.” says Vina Cheung, global head of RMB internationalization, global liquidity and cash management, Asia-Pacific at HSBC.