Yuan becomes No. 2 in trade finance deals

China’s yuan in October became the second most-used currency by importers and exporters in financial agreements with trade partners, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Swift, a financial-services firm that monitors international currency flows. The yuan was used for 8.7% of deals, up from 4.4% a year earlier, surpassing the euro and the yen. The Chinese currency is still well behind the US dollar, which is used for 81% of trade deals. It’s also used to pay for just 0.8% of all global transactions, lagging currencies from much smaller economies, including the Thai baht and Swedish krona.