Although its use in the international payments system remains dwarfed by the dollar and euro, the yuan, officially known as the renminbi, grew to 1.4 percent of total transactions.

That jump moved it ahead of the Hong Kong and Singapore dollars and even with the Swiss franc, the sixth most used currency in global transactions, the IIF study said.

In trade finance, overwhelmingly dominated by the US dollar, the yuan jumped into second place last year ahead of the euro and the Japanese yen, comprising eight percent of transactions.

And despite Beijing's still firm controls on its use, the yuan has become the ninth most-traded currency on foreign exchange markets, the volume hitting $120 billion daily on average, compared with $34 billion in 2010.