Business payments to China: a 2026 Malaysia guide

You’ve paid the same China supplier for three years now, and the invoice still arrives in USD, your bank still charges a cable fee you can’t quite pin down, and the exchange rate on your statement never matches what you saw quoted that morning.

If you’re running recurring deposit-and-balance payments to a Shenzhen or Guangzhou factory, that gap between quoted rate and settled rate is a cost that compounds every single order.

Malaysia’s total trade crossed RM3.061 trillion for the first time in 2025, up 6.3% year on year, with imports growing 6.2% to RM1.455 trillion and China posting double-digit expansion. Every one of those ringgit amounts passes through a payment rail, and the rail you choose determines how much of your margin survives the trip.

This guide compares every practical way to send business payments to China from Malaysia, explains the difference between CNY and CNH, and shows you exactly how to avoid the card surcharge that catches out unprepared importers.

Key takeaways:

• Paying Chinese suppliers directly in renminbi can reduce unnecessary FX costs: For Malaysian importers, converting MYR directly to CNH can avoid the double conversion that often happens when payments are routed through USD first.
• The best payment method depends on supplier trust, order size, and payment frequency: Trade Assurance and letters of credit can provide extra protection for new supplier relationships, while direct bank or multi-currency transfers usually make more sense for recurring orders with established factories.
• Traditional telegraphic transfers can be slower and more expensive than they first appear: Beyond handling and cable fees, importers may face FX margins, correspondent bank deductions, and settlement times of around 3 to 5 business days.
• CIPS and SWIFT serve different but complementary roles in China payments: SWIFT mainly handles international payment messaging, while CIPS clears and settles renminbi payments, helping support more direct RMB settlement into China.
• WorldFirst can simplify recurring China supplier payments: The World Account lets Malaysian businesses hold MYR and CNH, convert directly between currencies, see exchange rates before confirming payments, and pay Chinese suppliers without needing their own Chinese bank account.

Open a World Account to hold CNH, pay Chinese suppliers directly, and see your exchange rate before you commit to a transfer.

Understanding the currency: CNY vs CNH vs USD

CNY and CNH refer to the same underlying renminbi, but they behave very differently once money crosses a border.

CNY is the onshore yuan, tightly controlled by Chinese authorities, and you cannot freely send it across the border. CNH is the offshore yuan that trades freely outside mainland China, so banks and platforms based in Malaysia can hold it and send it abroad without the same capital controls.

Standard Chartered adds an important technical clarification here: CNY is actually the only ISO currency code used for renminbi payments, whether the transaction is onshore or offshore, while CNH is strictly an FX-market term used to describe offshore RMB trading.

In practice, this means the currency code on your payment instruction may read CNY even when the underlying settlement happens offshore through CNH liquidity pools.

What matters for you as an importer isn’t the label but the mechanics: your Malaysian ringgit needs to convert into a form of renminbi that can legally and practically land in your supplier’s Chinese bank account.

Many Malaysian importers still quote and pay in USD because it’s familiar and widely accepted by suppliers. The hidden cost is double conversion.

When your MYR converts to USD, and then USD converts again to CNH through a correspondent banking chain, you absorb two separate FX spreads instead of one.

A direct MYR-to-CNH conversion, where the platform or bank actually holds CNH, removes that second conversion entirely. For a supplier who’s willing to invoice in RMB, this is often the more cost-efficient route for an established importer running regular orders.

Read more:

• How to pay Chinese suppliers as a Malaysian SME

• How to pay international suppliers in USD, CNH and EUR

How to make payment to China from Malaysia: methods compared

There is no single best way to pay a Chinese supplier because the right method depends on order size, supplier trust, and how often you transact.

The table below compares the main options by cost profile, typical speed, and where each one fits.

Table compiled from WorldFirst Malaysia and industry sources; verify current fees directly with each provider before committing to a method.

For an established importer, the practical shortlist narrows quickly. Letters of credit and Trade Assurance suit new or higher-risk relationships where you need protection against non-delivery.

Once you’ve built trust with a factory over several orders and know their production timelines, the friction of an LC or the fees on PayPal and Western Union become harder to justify against a direct bank-to-bank or CNH transfer.

Most factories still structure payment as a 30% deposit to start production and 70% before shipment, which means you’re making at least two transfers per order regardless of method, so the cost of each transfer matters twice over.

Read more: The cheapest ways to ship products from China to Malaysia

CIPS vs SWIFT: what’s the difference and why it matters

SWIFT is a messaging network that tells banks what to do with money, while CIPS is China’s own system for actually clearing and settling renminbi payments. They solve different problems:

• SWIFT connects over 11,500 institutions in more than 235 countries and territories, and it provides messaging for transactions in virtually every major currency. SWIFT itself does not move funds, as it’s the instruction layer, not the settlement layer.
• CIPS, or the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, is China’s onshore payment infrastructure for clearing and settling cross-border renminbi transactions, launched in 2015 and authorised by the People’s Bank of China. Analysts have compared it functionally to the United States’ domestic clearing system CHIPS.

The important nuance for a Malaysian importer is that these two systems are increasingly complementary rather than competing.

CIPS still relies on SWIFT messaging for many of its transactions, and in March 2025 SWIFT signed a memorandum of understanding to work alongside CIPS rather than against it.

SWIFT’s Asia-Pacific leadership has publicly described the relationship as collaborative, noting that SWIFT supports over 150 currencies and maintains currency neutrality while CIPS focuses specifically on advancing renminbi internationalisation.

CIPS vs SWIFT at a glance

Table checked against FXC Intelligence, Statrys and Yicai Global reporting current as of November 2025.

Growth in CIPS generally supports faster and potentially cheaper renminbi settlement over time, as more banks and payment institutions connect directly to Chinese clearing infrastructure rather than routing through longer correspondent chains.

However, SWIFT still underpins the vast majority of cross-border messaging worldwide, so for now, most of your transfers, whether through a bank or a payments platform, will still touch the SWIFT network at some point in the journey even if final settlement runs through CIPS..

The full cost of a telegraphic transfer, and how to reduce it

A telegraphic transfer’s advertised fee is rarely the full story, because the exchange rate margin usually costs more than the fixed charges combined.

The total cost of a TT breaks down into four components:

• Handling commission
• Cable fee
• The transfer amount multiplied by the FX margin percentage
• Any correspondent bank deductions along the way

Of these, the FX margin is typically the largest and least visible component, because it’s baked into the exchange rate rather than itemised as a separate line.

As a benchmark, Maybank’s foreign telegraphic transfer service charges RM10 for online transfers to all countries, or RM30 for branch cable charges (except SGD transfers to Singapore, which cost RM10), with an 8% service tax applied to both the service fee and any agent or beneficiary bank fee.

These fixed charges look modest on their own. But on a transfer of any meaningful size, a 1 to 2% FX margin dwarfs a RM10 or RM30 cable charge many times over.

If you’re paying in CNY specifically through a Malaysian bank, Bank of China Malaysia requires the beneficiary bank’s 12-digit CNAPS number for CNY telegraphic transfers to mainland China, and supporting documents are required for remittances above MYR 25,000 equivalent.

This documentation requirement is a normal part of onshore CNY compliance, and it’s one more reason many established importers prefer to settle in offshore CNH through a multi-currency platform where the compliance friction is handled differently.

How long does a TT transfer take?

The traditional TT route also carries a timing cost: a typical telegraphic transfer takes three to five business days to land because of the intermediary banks involved in the correspondent chain.

For a supplier waiting on a deposit before starting production, that delay can push your delivery timeline back by nearly a week compared with same-day settlement options.

• A multi-currency business account that holds CNH directly changes this calculation in two ways. First, it removes the double conversion that happens when MYR converts to USD and then to CNH through a correspondent chain, so you absorb one FX spread instead of two.
• Second, because the platform already holds the target currency, it can settle through local or direct networks rather than a multi-bank correspondent chain. This is typically faster and gives you visibility into the exact rate before you commit to the transfer, rather than discovering it after the fact on a settlement notice.

How WorldFirst helps Malaysian importers pay China

For an established importer running recurring China orders, the practical question isn’t brand history, it’s whether the platform changes your actual payment friction: timing, visible cost, and reconciliation.

The World Account lets you hold currency balances in 20+ currencies, including MYR, CNH and major currencies like USD and EUR, and send payments to 210+ countries and territories in 100+ currencies.

For a Chinese supplier specifically, this means you can convert MYR to CNH once and settle directly into their Chinese bank account, rather than paying in USD and letting a correspondent chain handle a second conversion you never see itemised.

Practical example:

Consider a Penang electronics importer paying a Shenzhen factory a 30% deposit on a US$40,000 order, followed by the 70% balance before shipment. Routed through a traditional bank TT, each leg takes three to five business days to clear, carries a cable and handling fee, and the FX margin is absorbed into a rate you only see after the fact.

Routed through a CNH-holding multi-currency account connected to the supplier’s Chinese bank details, the same two payments can settle same-day in most cases, with the exchange rate visible before you confirm, and no correspondent deductions on supported corridors. The total ringgit cost difference across a year of monthly orders adds up meaningfully, even before accounting for the cash-flow benefit of faster settlement.

WorldFirst is also the official payment partner of Chinese wholesale sourcing platform 1688.com, so you can connect your World Account directly and pay instantly without needing a Chinese bank account of your own.

WorldFirst is a regulated payments provider, not a bank, and in Malaysia it holds a Class A Money Services Business licence from Bank Negara Malaysia. It’s part of Ant International and has supported more than 1.5 million businesses globally since 2004, and has been recognised as a top global fintech company by CNBC and Statista.

Open a World Account to compare your current China payment costs against a CNH-direct route built for recurring supplier orders.

FAQs

1. How to make payment to China from Malaysia?

The most practical routes are a direct bank telegraphic transfer through a Malaysian bank, a multi-currency account that holds CNH and settles directly with your supplier’s Chinese bank account, a letter of credit for higher-value or higher-risk orders, or platform-based options like Alibaba Trade Assurance for newer supplier relationships.

For an established importer with a trusted factory, a direct CNH transfer or bank TT is typically the most straightforward, provided you understand the fee structure and settlement timing of whichever route you choose.

2. How to send money to China for business?

For business-to-business trade, avoid consumer payment wallets like Alipay or WeChat Pay and instead use a bank telegraphic transfer or a multi-currency business account that can hold and settle in CNH directly.

4. How to avoid 3% transaction fee in China?

The 3% fee applies specifically to Alipay and WeChat Pay transactions above CNY 200 made using a linked international card, so the simplest way to avoid it entirely is to not use a card-linked consumer wallet for business payments.

Disclaimer:

This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. WorldFirst makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness, or applicability of the content, and readers are encouraged to consult with legal professionals or other professionals for advice tailored to their specific situation. WorldFirst does not guarantee the accuracy and completeness of this article and expressly disclaims any and all liability to any person in respect of the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done wholly or partly in reliance on this article.

Sources:

1. https://www.matrade.gov.my/en/about-matrade/press-release/malaysias-trade-performance-for-2025
2. https://www.airwallex.com/my/blog/how-to-pay-chinese-suppliers
3. https://www.sc.com/en/news/corporate-investment-banking/what-is-the-renminbi-and-why-rmb-internationalisation-matters/
4. https://www.fxcintel.com/research/analysis/cips-growth-may-2025
5. https://statrys.com/blog/what-is-cips-china
6. https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/exclusive-swift-can-complement-chinas-cross-border-interbank-payment-system-apac-ceo-says
7. https://www.maybank2u.com.my/maybank2u/malaysia/en/business/services/foreign-telegraphic-transfer.page
8. https://www.bankofchina.com.my/en-my/segment/personal-banking/remittance-and-exchange/telegraphic-transfer.html