On September 8, Georgia’s third-largest financial group, Basisbank, signed an agreement and gained direct participant status in CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System).
The bank described the agreement as a strategic step toward expanding international transactions and developing its RMB business operations. According to Basisbank, CIPS membership will strengthen its integration into Chinese and global financial markets.
“[Direct CIPS Participation] enhances the efficiency of RMB-denominated cross-border transactions and creates new opportunities to support growing trade and investment relations between Georgia and China.”
Additionally, the bank signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Agricultural Bank of China, which will act as the clearing bank supporting Basisbank’s transactions through CIPS.
The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) is a state-controlled commercial bank that, according to its official website, is one of the major integrated financial service providers in China. Notably, Basisbank’s RMB transactions will be supported by this state-controlled bank.
What is CIPS?
According to its official website, CIPS Co., Ltd. is subject to the supervision, administration, and guidance of the People’s Bank of China. Since 2015, CIPS has provided clearing and settlement services to banks for RMB-denominated cross-border and offshore transactions. As of June 2026, CIPS serves 210 direct participants and 1,619 indirect participants.
Experts’ assessments have identified several strategic benefits that CIPS could provide to Beijing:
First, CIPS can support the internationalisation of the RMB and reduce reliance on the US dollar in cross-border transactions, contributing to China’s broader efforts to promote greater use of its currency in international trade and finance.
Second, as China’s role in global trade expands, greater use of RMB-based payment infrastructure can facilitate transactions with Chinese counterparties and potentially reduce transaction costs and exposure to certain currency and payment-related risks.
Third, CIPS provides an additional channel for cross-border RMB payments outside the traditional financial infrastructure centred on Western institutions. It is sometimes described as an alternative to SWIFT.
A Chinese-Owned Bank and CIPS Membership – Expansion of the Chinese Financial System in Georgia?
Basisbank is one of Georgia’s largest commercial banks, serving approximately two million customers. The bank’s majority shareholder is Xinjiang Hualing Industry & Trade (Group) Co., Ltd. (“Hualing Group”), which has been its controlling shareholder since 2012. As of December 2025, Hualing Group held a 91.69% stake in Basisbank.
In April 2026, Basisbank acquired a controlling stake in Liberty Bank, further expanding its position in Georgia’s banking sector. Following the acquisition, the combined group has an estimated market share of more than 11%.
The acquisition also increased the strategic significance of the group’s financial infrastructure. Liberty Bank has for decades provided state pension and social benefit distribution services in Georgia, having repeatedly won relevant public tenders. Through its ownership of Liberty Bank, Basisbank therefore operates within a financial group that provides services to a substantial segment of Georgia’s population.
Against this backdrop, Basisbank’s CIPS membership represents another step toward the growing integration of the country’s financial and economic infrastructure with China. China has become an increasingly important trading partner for Georgia, while Chinese-produced goods have gained a significant presence in the Georgian market. Chinese companies have also become major participants in Georgia’s infrastructure sector, including through large-scale public procurement and infrastructure projects.
Direct participation in CIPS can facilitate this growing economic relationship by allowing Basisbank to process RMB-denominated cross-border transactions more directly and efficiently. In practical terms, the arrangement provides an additional channel through which Georgian businesses and their Chinese counterparts can conduct international payments and settle trade and investment transactions in RMB.
At the same time, the development warrants attention from a financial-security and sanctions-compliance perspective.
Georgian banks’ access to Chinese payment and settlement infrastructure could create additional channels for transactions involving jurisdictions subject to Western sanctions. This is particularly relevant given Georgia’s growing economic engagement with China alongside the government’s increasingly permissive approach toward economic relations with Russia and Iran.
The key concern, therefore, is how this infrastructure may be used. Increased RMB-denominated transactions involving Chinese, Georgian, Russian, Iranian, or other counterparties could facilitate third countries’ illegal activities and sanctions-evasion schemes.
