BEIJING — China's central bank on March 23 announced that a joint venture (JV) between global financial messaging service provider SWIFT and four Chinese institutions will offer localized financial services to make cross-border transactions more stable and secure.

The JV will provide financial gateway services to SWIFT domestic users, including building and running local network concentrations and local data warehouses, according to a statement by the People's Bank of China.

As China deepens opening-up in the financial industry, more and more domestic institutions use the cross-border financial network and information services provided by SWIFT, which calls for higher standards in business continuity and stability, as well data compliance and security.

Some medium- and small-sized Chinese banks had previously reported unstable connectivity to the SWIFT network, which affected cross-border transactions, the central bank noted.

Through the local network concentration offered by the JV, users can access stable, resilient and safe connections to the main SWIFT network to avoid abnormal situations such as network interruption, the central bank explained.