The Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS“) announced on 23 October 2026 that Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand have joined the BLOOM (Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency) initiative as policymaker members. Together with industry players, the three central banks will explore common approaches that facilitate the cross-border use and settlement of digital money across different institutions, networks and jurisdictions.
This public-private initiative brings together policymakers and industry participants to support the use of digital money in cross-border financial activity. As digital money arrangements, including tokenised deposits and regulated stablecoins, continue to develop across jurisdictions, the initiative aims to promote interoperability through engagement on settlement infrastructure and related frameworks.
Participants will explore three key areas to support the use of digital money across jurisdictions:
- Acceptance and settlement across jurisdictions: How financial institutions accept different forms of digital money for cross-border transactions, how counterparties contract with one another, and how transactions are ultimately settled across institutions and markets in different jurisdictions.
- Interoperability across digital money arrangements: How different digital money arrangements can operate across networks, infrastructures and borders, including the technical and operational approaches needed to enable interoperability between systems.
- Programmable controls: How safeguards such as identity verification, sanctions screening and transaction controls are incorporated into digital money transactions.
Click on the following link for more information:
- MAS Media Release titled “MAS, Bank Negara Malaysia and Bank of Thailand Partner with Industry to Advance Cross-Border Settlement in Digital Money through BLOOM” (available on the MAS website at www.mas.gov.sg)
If you have any queries on the above, please reach out to our team set out on this page.
For regional Financial Services Regulatory matters, please see Rajah & Tann Asia’s Financial Services Regulatory Practice for more information.
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