China's central bank adds 8 banks as digital yuan operators

BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank announced Monday that it has added eight banks to its list of authorized institutions for digital yuan operations.

The move aims to improve the inclusiveness of digital yuan services, and meet public demand for secure, convenient and efficient digital yuan services, according to the People's Bank of China.

The newly added operators, including Ping An Bank, Hengfeng Bank, China Bohai Bank, Bank of Shanghai, Bank of Hangzhou, Huishang Bank, Bank of Changsha, Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank, will be linked to the central bank's digital yuan system.

They will start offering digital yuan services after operational and technical preparations have been completed.

This expansion has brought the number of operating institutions for digital yuan business to 30.

The central bank said it will continue to expand the number of operators in order to build an open, inclusive and fair competition environment for the development of the digital yuan.