PANews reported on November 3 that Lu Lei, Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China, stated that the PBOC attaches great importance to cross-border payment cooperation with Hong Kong, explores the use of various financial technology innovations, actively promotes cross-border payment connectivity, and facilitates the integrated development of the two regions' economies. In his speech at the Hong Kong Fintech Week Startup Festival, Lu Lei stated that the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) has been continuously expanding its business in Hong Kong. In recent years, the system has successively added the northbound and southbound fund settlement functions of Bond Connect and launched Hong Kong dollar payment and clearing business. As of the end of September, there were 11 direct participants and 120 indirect participants in Hong Kong, providing safe and efficient cross-border clearing and settlement services for international trade and investment financing. He added that they are actively promoting the interconnection and cooperation of the two places' fast payment systems. Cross-border payment was successfully launched online in June this year, providing residents of both places with fast online bilateral local currency and bilateral RMB remittance services. Currently, the system is operating smoothly, business processing is normal, and the public response has been positive. Lu Lei pointed out that to deepen the interconnection of cross-border QR code payments, the People's Bank of China recently organized the establishment of a unified cross-border QR code gateway, which serves as a unified interface for carrying out cross-border QR code payment cooperation, further facilitating cross-border QR code payment cooperation between institutions in both regions. He stated that in the future, the digital yuan will be used to explore new solutions for cross-border payments, including promoting multilateral central bank digital currency bridge cooperation and exploring new paradigms for cross-border payments; relying on the digital yuan cross-border payment platform to provide Chinese solutions for central bank digital currency cross-border payment cooperation; and building a dual platform of blockchain and digital assets to activate a new engine for the value internet.PANews reported on November 3 that Lu Lei, Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China, stated that the PBOC attaches great importance to cross-border payment cooperation with Hong Kong, explores the use of various financial technology innovations, actively promotes cross-border payment connectivity, and facilitates the integrated development of the two regions' economies. In his speech at the Hong Kong Fintech Week Startup Festival, Lu Lei stated that the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) has been continuously expanding its business in Hong Kong. In recent years, the system has successively added the northbound and southbound fund settlement functions of Bond Connect and launched Hong Kong dollar payment and clearing business. As of the end of September, there were 11 direct participants and 120 indirect participants in Hong Kong, providing safe and efficient cross-border clearing and settlement services for international trade and investment financing. He added that they are actively promoting the interconnection and cooperation of the two places' fast payment systems. Cross-border payment was successfully launched online in June this year, providing residents of both places with fast online bilateral local currency and bilateral RMB remittance services. Currently, the system is operating smoothly, business processing is normal, and the public response has been positive. Lu Lei pointed out that to deepen the interconnection of cross-border QR code payments, the People's Bank of China recently organized the establishment of a unified cross-border QR code gateway, which serves as a unified interface for carrying out cross-border QR code payment cooperation, further facilitating cross-border QR code payment cooperation between institutions in both regions. He stated that in the future, the digital yuan will be used to explore new solutions for cross-border payments, including promoting multilateral central bank digital currency bridge cooperation and exploring new paradigms for cross-border payments; relying on the digital yuan cross-border payment platform to provide Chinese solutions for central bank digital currency cross-border payment cooperation; and building a dual platform of blockchain and digital assets to activate a new engine for the value internet.