At its monthly meeting, Bank Indonesia announced a major financial infrastructure upgrade initiative to establish RMB clearing banks, further deepening the development of the domestic currency and foreign exchange market. This move is designed to accommodate the surging demand for RMB transactions in the Indonesian market and promote the development of a direct trading system between the Indonesian rupiah and the RMB. Bank Indonesia's Deputy Governor explained the core background for the implementation of this policy. According to the latest central bank statistics, as of July 2026, the scale of domestic RMB transaction demand in Indonesia has reached the equivalent of USD 38.9 billion. Meanwhile, the central bank's full-year RMB demand target set at the beginning of the year was only USD 40 billion, meaning that within just seven months, market demand had already nearly met the annual target. With five months remaining, there is still room for sustained growth, and market demand for RMB settlement and exchange is showing explosive growth.
Against this backdrop, Bank Indonesia has officially launched the layout of RMB clearing banks, whose core role is to ensure the stable liquidity of RMB funds within Indonesia and fill the gap between market supply and demand. At the same time, this financial infrastructure will significantly boost the scale of direct trading between the Indonesian rupiah and the RMB, reduce intermediate exchange steps, optimize the settlement efficiency of bilateral trade and investment between China and Indonesia, and improve the domestic foreign exchange market system. In terms of implementation planning, Bank Indonesia has set a clear timeline, with the RMB clearing banks expected to officially commence operations by the fourth quarter of 2026 at the latest. Indonesia will establish two RMB clearing institutions, forming a dual-institution operational structure to ensure the stability of market services. The project has already received approval from the People's Bank of China, and Bank of China will become Indonesia's first RMB clearing bank.
Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia is advancing the approval process for local state-owned banks (banks under the Himbara system). Once the process is completed, the local clearing bank will be officially established, forming a collaborative model of Chinese and Indonesian dual clearing banks. This move to establish the RMB clearing system is a key step by Bank Indonesia to deepen foreign exchange market reforms and adapt to the booming economic and trade cooperation between China and Indonesia. It not only resolves the current market problem of RMB liquidity shortage, reduces bilateral transaction costs, and improves settlement efficiency, but will also further promote the widespread use of the RMB in Indonesia's cross-border trade and investment, building more complete financial infrastructure for deep economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
