BEIJING (Reuters) -China will continue to advance the development of its central bank digital currency and improve its design, the People's Bank of China governor Yi Gang said on Tuesday.

       China is a front-runner in the global race to launch central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and is testing a digital yuan, or eCNY, in major cities including Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai but has not set a timetable for its official rollout.

       "Going forward, we will continue to prudently advance R&D of eCNY, improve its design and use," Yi said via video at a Bank of Finland event.

       China will improve eCNY's privacy protection and anti-counterfeiting feature and increase its interoperability with existing payments tools, Yi said.

       China will test eCNY's impact on its monetary policy and financial markets, he added.

       Yi also said eCNY aims to meet the need of domestic retail payments as cross-border digital payments involve more complicated issues, such as anti-money laundering.

       (Reporting by Kevin Yao and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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