This week Bloomberg reported that data from SWIFT shows that last month, the use of the euro in international settlements declined to its lowest level in three years.

The statistics, from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications showed that the euro’s share of cross-border transaction settlements dropped to 31.74% in April from 32.64% in March.

Meanwhile, the share of transactions settled in dollars rose to 42.71% from March’s 41.74%. Cross-border transactions in yuan surged to their highest level in five months, while the proportion of settlements in Japanese yen fell to 3.51%, down from 4.78% in March.

Bloomberg noted, “The share of the dollar continued to expand following the collapse of several US lenders and concerns around Switzerland’s Credit Suisse Group AG that ultimately led to its acquisition by UBS Group AG.”

However despite its recent decline, the euro remained the second-ranked currency being used to settle international obligations on SWIFT.

The Chinese yuan’s usage has been increasing as the government of China has sought to promote the use of its currency internationally in trade settlement. Many nations have viewed the sanctioning of Russia by the West over the conflict in Ukraine, and the attempts to damage its economy by denying it access to Western financial tools, as a “weaponization” of the dollar and the Western financial system, and this has led them to take actions to make their own international trade relationships less reliant on the dollar.

As part of this trend, the renminbi has been enjoying increasing adoption as a tool of cross-border trade settlement. In addition, Russia and its trade partners have increasingly been developing means of settling mutual trade in local currencies, as the BRICS nations are looking to establish a new reserve currency.