CNY

CNY is the ISO 4217 three-letter code for the renminbi (RMB), the legal tender of the People's Republic of China. The unit of account is the yuan (元), which is why the currency is commonly quoted as "yuan" in markets and "renminbi" ("people's currency") in official contexts. The currency is issued and managed by the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

CNY specifically refers to the onshore yuan, which trades within mainland China under a managed float regime. The PBOC publishes a daily central parity rate (the "fix") against the US dollar each morning, and the onshore spot rate is permitted to fluctuate within a band around that fix — widened to ±2% in March 2014. This contrasts with CNH, the offshore yuan that trades more freely in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and other offshore centers since the offshore market opened in 2010. CNY and CNH typically trade close to one another but can diverge during periods of capital-flow stress or policy intervention.

Key milestones in CNY's internationalization:

• 2005: China abandoned the strict dollar peg in favor of a managed float against a basket of currencies.
• 2009: Cross-border trade settlement in renminbi was piloted.
• August 2015: The PBOC reformed the fix mechanism, triggering a sharp devaluation and significant market volatility.
• October 2016: The IMF added the renminbi to the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket, the first emerging-market currency included, with an initial weight of 10.92%.

Despite SDR inclusion, CNY remains subject to capital controls, and its share of global payments tracked by SWIFT has historically lagged its share of global trade. Policy debates around CNY frequently involve allegations of currency manipulation, dollar-yuan dynamics in US-China trade tensions, and the role of the digital yuan (e-CNY) piloted by the PBOC since 2020.