BEIJING -- The Bank of China said Thursday it has actively expanded cross-border renminbi products and services since the start of the year, and handled 22.59 trillion yuan ($3.15 trillion) of cross-border renminbi settlements in the first eight months.

In breakdown, cross-border renminbi settlements by the lender's domestic branches grew by 22 percent year on year to 8.29 trillion yuan in the first eight months, while all the overseas branches of the lender handled 14.3 trillion yuan of cross-border renminbi settlements, up 4.45 percent year-on-year.

There has been a notable increase in the cross-border use of renminbi in the participating countries of the Belt and Road Initiative, surging 90.41 percent year-on-year during the period, said Liu Yunfei, deputy general manager of BOC's global transaction banking department.

In recent years, the BOC has continuously expanded its service network in BRI countries. With the opening of its branch in Riyadh last month, the lender's overseas institutions have covered 64 countries and regions, including 44 that are taking part in the BRI.

By the end of June, the lender had assisted BRI partner countries and related institutions in issuing 29 types of panda bonds worth a total of 75.96 billion yuan, effectively meeting their renminbi financing needs.