CROSS-BORDER INTERBANK PAYMENT SYSTEM (CUPS) AND ITS ROLE IN THE PROCESS OF INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE NATIONAL CURRENCY SYSTEM OF THE YUAN
Since the beginning of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, which highlighted the weakness of the international monetary system due to its complete dependence on the US dollar as the main world currency, the leadership of the People's Republic of China, like many other states, felt its dependence and, taking advantage of the situation, used the full potential of opportunities and efforts to raise the status of the yuan to the level of the international reserve currency currencies and put an end to the dominance of the dollar. The PRC's efforts were aimed at promoting the yuan in international payments, creating its own global financial infrastructure and networks in yuan and reforming the international monetary system. The creation of China's own cross-border interbank payment system (CIPS) has become an integral part of building a global financial infrastructure in yuan. Combined with other anti-crisis measures to internationalize the yuan, CIPS helped achieve a sharp increase in the use of the yuan as an international payment currency in less than two years after the system was fully launched in 2018. CIPS is designed in the likeness of the existing market-leading payment systems CHIPS and SWIFT, uses their operational functions that are deeply embedded in the global financial system. Based on key literature in English and Chinese, assessing historical precedents and economic data, the authors try to assess the role of the CIPS system and the yuan in international foreign exchange reserves and payments, the problems of finding global recognition and prospects for improving the supranational use of the Chinese currency.