Secret moves launched by China, Russia, Japan, France, Arab States to end the Dollar

Long time U.S. vassal state Japan to bypass dollar and SWIFT to transact using China's CIPS system in inter-bank settlement

9:22 AM

Ever since China began to duplicate Western financial institutions starting in 2013, more and more nations have begun matriculating towards the East, and away from dollar hegemony. And one of the most important of these new infrastructures is the Chinese CIPS platforms which functions for the RMB the same way SWIFT does for the dollar.

Yet unlike the way SWIFT charges for swaps when nations have to use the dollar as a middleman since it still reigns as the world's singular reserve currency, CIPS allows for much lower transaction fees and the convenience of bypassing the U.S. currency through direct bi-lateral currency settlement.

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Hiroshima Bank and 13 other Japanese regional banks will connect to an interbank payment network that enables direct yuan wiring to mainland China -- a move that will lower transaction fees and boost convenience for customers.

Joining the China International Payments System will reduce fees and processing days. Juroku Bank and Joyo Bank are also among the Japanese banks taking advantage of the system introduced by the People's Bank of China. They will be connected one by one after the end of the Chinese New Year holidays via the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, which connected to the system last year.

Previously, payments to mainland China had to be processed by clearing banks such as those in Hong Kong. CIPS can cut costs by several dollars (10 yuan equals $1.45) per transaction. Payments can be completed on the same day if certain conditions are met. – Asia.Nikkei

As the world continues to reject the dollar and the old financial model of a singular reserve currency, more countries are seeing the benefits of transacting in a bi-lateral environment. And once enough of these nations decides to follow this new economic model being laid out from Beijing, and create the critical mass needed to bypass the dollar completely, then the reserve currency will simply fade away via de facto consent, and force change onto the Western institutions that have run the global financial system for decades.

http://www.thedailyeconomist.com/201...-japan-to.html

World Dumping US Debt & Hoarding Gold: De-dollarization Explained

In a special extended segment, Anya Parampil is joined by In Question producer Kei Pritsker, who explains why Russia, China, India, Japan, Turkey, Venezuela, and Iran have all made moves away from the dollar, including dumping their holdings of US debt and increasing their respective gold reserves.

EU plans to do all oil transactions with other states in euros: Iran

Thu Dec 6, 2018 02:56PM [Updated: Thu Dec 6, 2018 03:33PM]

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The European Union is going to ditch the US dollar and use its own currency in oil contracts worth 300 billion euros, an Iranian official said, quoting a European commissioner.

“Based on the news I recently received and was confirmed by a European commissioner, from now on, the EU is going to ditch the US dollar and just use the euro in the financial transactions of all European oil deals with other countries,” said Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said the amount of these transactions is more than €300 billion.

“Previously, the EU used to pay 85 percent of the money for the oil it purchased from other countries in US dollars, but now with this new mechanism, all the money will be paid in euros,” he said.

Once the mechanism takes effect, the US dollar will be isolated as a global currency, and the US will no longer be able to use dollars in the current dominating way, Salehi added.

His comments came one day after the EU commission presented its plan to reduce the dollar's overwhelming dominance of the global economy and to strengthen the role of the euro, particularly for energy transactions.

European capitals are increasingly frustrated with the global dominance of the dollar as a reserve currency, which hands the United States unparalleled diplomatic and economic power in a globalized world.

Governments, banks and multinationals are at the mercy of US authorities, which have the legal power to switch off access to the world economy if any company or country runs afoul of Washington.

"In the current context of incertitudes – trade conflicts, extra territorial sanctions by the US – the market participants are looking for alternative," said EU economics affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici at a news conference in Brussels.

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PressTV-EU promotes euro to stop dollar dominance

The EU commission presented its plan to reduce the dollar's overwhelming dominance of the global economy.

The single currency – born on January 1, 1999 – "should reflect the political, economic and financial weight of the eurozone", the single currency bloc of 19 EU countries, said European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis.

The share of the euro in global holdings of foreign exchange reserves currently stands at around 20 percent, according to the commission. The US dollar, by comparison, is over 60 percent.

After a strong start, the international stature of the euro suffered greatly during the eurozone debt crisis as the financial markets lost faith in the single currency.

The most frustrating recent example for the EU is Iran, where international companies that choose to trade with or invest despite US sanctions are vulnerable to punishment by Washington if they use the dollar.

In order to resolve the issue, Europe has promised to establish the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), a mechanism which is supposed to bypass US sanctions against Tehran.

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PressTV-US using dollar as weapon to pressure Europe: Iran

The US government has been using dollar as a weapon to force other countries into supporting its policies, says an Iranian diplomat.

SPV to be launched by year-end

In his Thursday remarks, Iran’s nuclear chief expressed hope that the SPV will be in place by the end of December.

It is not easy to build consensus among 27 members of the European Union, he said, quoting European officials as saying that they are doing their best to finalize the mechanism, and that its development is in its final stages.

“Based on the pledges that the Europeans have made, we hope that Europe’s proposed package would become operational by the end of the current year,” Salehi added.

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PressTV-Iran's patience running out on EU pledges: Salehi

Iran's nuclear chief warns the European Union that Tehran's patience is running out on the bloc's lack of delivery on its economic pledges.

Salehi’s comments echoed Wednesday remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who also quoted Europeans as saying that the SPV will be launched very soon.

“The Europeans told me in Geneva, and my colleagues in Brussels, that the final arrangements for the SPV have been made,” Zarif said, but at the same time noted that the EU has kept the process confidential for fear of the US which may disrupt the SPV if it is made aware of the details.

In a Tuesday report, Al-Monitor quoted European sources as saying that the SPV will be announced in January.

“It is likely that it will be used initially to facilitate trade in food and medicine and consumer goods to avoid attracting unwanted scrutiny from the US Treasury Department,” the report said.

“The Europeans have indicated that other countries may be welcome to join the SPV or that there may be multiple SPVs for different types of trade,” it added.

Fall of US Dollar Is Inevitable, But What Will Replace It?

By Paul Antonopoulos

Last updated Jan 10, 2019

LONDON, The United Kingdom – Bank of England President Mark Carney revealed that the Chinese yuan could become a reserve currency in the future and replace the US dollar as the global reserve currency.

According to him, the Chinese yuan may potentially become a global reserve currency along with the US dollar, however, these changes tend to be more much slower than the changes in the size of the economies of the two countries.

“As the world re-orders, this disconnect between the real and financial is likely to reduce, and in the process other reserve currencies may emerge,” Carney said on January 9 during an online forum hosted by the Bank of England, as quoted by Reuters.

“In the first instance, I would expect these will be existing national currencies, such as the RMB,” Carney added, referring to the abbreviation of the Chinese currency.

The US dollar remains the most widely used currency in the world. The use of the dollar facilitates the valuation of contracts and international trade in general.

However, in recent years more and more countries are discussing the abandonment of the dollar in international transactions, while the aggressive trade policy of President Donald Trump has made the US dollar less suitable for international payments.

China has increased the yuan’s share in negotiating with major trading partners, in particular with Russia and Iran, which are under US sanctions. In addition, in March 2018 Beijing launched future oil contracts quoted in yuan. OPEC’s third largest oil producer, Iran, already sells its oil to China for yuan.

Iran however is not the only country wanting or forced to trade in local currencies. Many states against the US dollar hegemony, such as Turkey, Venezuela and Russia, are all moving towards trading in local currencies. However, even traditional US puppets such as the United Arab Emirates as moving towards de-Dollarization.

Exclusive: Saudi Arabia threatens to ditch dollar oil trades to stop 'NOPEC' - sources

Dmitry Zhdannikov, Rania El Gamal, Alex Lawler

April 4, 2019 / 7:06 PM / Updated 2 hours ago

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is threatening to sell its oil in currencies other than the dollar if Washington passes a bill exposing OPEC members to U.S. antitrust lawsuits, three sources familiar with Saudi energy policy said.

They said the option had been discussed internally by senior Saudi energy officials in recent months. Two of the sources said the plan had been discussed with OPEC members and one source briefed on Saudi oil policy said Riyadh had also communicated the threat to senior U.S. energy officials.

The chances of the U.S. bill known as NOPEC coming into force are slim and Saudi Arabia would be unlikely to follow through, but the fact Riyadh is considering such a drastic step is a sign of the kingdom’s annoyance about potential U.S. legal challenges to OPEC.

In the unlikely event Riyadh were to ditch the dollar, it would undermine the its status as the world’s main reserve currency, reduce Washington’s clout in global trade and weaken its ability to enforce sanctions on nation states.

“The Saudis know they have the dollar as the nuclear option,” one of the sources familiar with the matter said.

“The Saudis say: let the Americans pass NOPEC and it would be the U.S. economy that would fall apart,” another source said.

Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

A U.S. state department official said: “as a general matter, we don’t comment on pending legislation.”

The U.S. Energy Department did not respond to a request for comment. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has said that NOPEC could lead to unintended consequences.

Excerpted read more at...https://www.reuters.com/article/us-s...-idUSKCN1RH008

Russia Dumps U.S. Dollars and Buys Gold As "Safety Metal"

by GoldCore
Tue, 04/09/2019 - 08:08

(Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin’s quest to break Russia’s reliance on the U.S. dollar has set off a literal gold rush. Within the span of a decade, the country quadrupled its bullion reserves, and 2018 marked the most ambitious year yet.

And the pace is keeping up so far this year. Data from the central bank show that holdings rose by 1 million ounces in February, the most since November.

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The data shows that Russia is making rapid progress in its effort to diversify away from American assets. Analysts, who have coined the term de-dollarization, speculate about the global economic impacts if more countries adopt a similar philosophy and what it could mean for the dollar’s desirability compared with other assets, such as gold or the Chinese yuan.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with CNN in November that European corporations and entities are too dependent on the U.S. currency, calling it "an issue of sovereignty." Last year, Poland and Hungary surprised analysts by making the first substantial gold purchases by a European Union nation in more than a decade.

For Russia, experts are starting to question whether it can afford to keep up its intense pace of buying. Some say the country will import more gold to guard against geopolitical shocks and the threat of tougher U.S. sanctions as relations between the two powers continue to deteriorate. Gold buying last year exceeded mine supply for the first time. Still, others argue that Russia’s bullion demand.

“Should it reach the limit for domestic purchases, I think the central bank will start to import gold,” said Oleg Kouzmin, chief economist at Renaissance Capital in Moscow and former adviser in the central bank’s Monetary Policy Department.

Given the geopolitical risks, it’s likely the central bank will keep increasing gold’s share of reserves, he said.

A representative for Russia’s central bank declined to comment on its gold purchases.

One thing that could keep Russia’s dollar reserves at high level is the country’s dependence on exporting commodities, like oil which are denominated in the greenback. Three-quarters of the nation’s annual $600 billion of trade is in dollars.

Central bank buying has helped “strengthen gold from a weak hand to a strong hand” and supported gold prices in recent years, according to Ronald-Peter Stoeferle, managing partner at Liechtenstein-based asset manager Incrementum AG.

Bullion has risen more than 20 percent since the start of 2016.



Saudi Arabia threatens to cause US dollar to collapse

World » Asia
08.04.2019 16:57

The authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia consider a possibility to abandon the US dollar as the main currency in payments for Saudi oil. Riyadh may make such a decision in the event the United States passes a new law to ban the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.

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High-ranking Saudi officials in charge of the energy sector have been discussing the prospect of waiving the US dollar and switching to other currencies in settlements with foreign buyers. They also discussed the plan with several OPEC partners and members of the White House administration.

Thus, the kingdom wants to put pressure on the United States, which in turn is trying to pass a law banning all types of energy cartels. In this case, OPEC member states will lose their immunity, and one will be able to file lawsuits against them for monopoly collusion. The organization will virtually cease to exist under such conditions.

The bill, called NOPEC, was submitted to US Congress in 2008. The bill had been rejected several times during the presidency of Barack Obama. These days, the bill has a lot more chances to become law, given Donald Trump's aspiration to put an end to high oil prices through coordinated reduction in oil output. Trump needs cheap fuel on the threshold of the presidential election in the USA.