China's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) was introduced to support yuan-based cross-border transactions as an alternative to the SWIFT network. According to NS3.AI, while CIPS is designed for quick settlement, it still relies significantly on SWIFT's messaging system and serves a smaller number of banks and countries. SWIFT handles a much larger volume of global transactions daily and operates independently, whereas CIPS focuses on faster clearing specifically for yuan payments but lacks SWIFT's global reach and independence.