Among U.S. companies that do business in China, the proportion settling transactions in renminbi (RMB) has nearly doubled in the past year. The United States still lags behind some European nations, but the trend is clearly toward increased use of the Chinese currency. These are the key findings of an HSBC study released last week.

The bank commissioned Nielsen to survey financial decision-makers in 1,304 companies that are either foreign businesses engaged in trade with mainland China, or else companies based in China that do business abroad. More one in five use the RMB for settlement, and that figure rises to more than two in five among organizations over US$500 million in annual revenue. Outside of mainland China (33 percent), Taiwan (38 percent), and Hong Kong (58 percent), the countries in which the largest proportion of respondents said their company settles some cross-border deals in RMB were France (26 percent) and Germany (23 percent).

Among U.S.-based organizations that either have a physical presence in mainland China or engage in import/export activities there, 17 percent currently do business in RMB. That's nearly doubled over the past year; in 2013, only 9 percent of U.S. businesses dealt in RMB. And across all geographic regions, a third of companies that are not currently using the RMB plan to do so in the future.