Bank of Thailand Joins Singapore and Malaysia in Cross-Border Digital Money Initiative

The Bank of Thailand has joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank Negara Malaysia in an initiative to develop common approaches for cross-border payments and settlement using digital money.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced on October 23 that the Thai and Malaysian central banks had joined BLOOM as policymaker members. They will work with financial institutions, payment networks and technology providers on how different forms of digital money can be accepted, exchanged and settled across institutions and jurisdictions.

BLOOM, which stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency, covers applications involving tokenised deposits and regulated stablecoins. The initiative seeks to coordinate arrangements as institutions develop different digital money systems for payments, treasury and trade finance.

Thailand to inform regulatory approaches

Daranee Saeju, the Bank of Thailand’s deputy governor for payment systems stability and financial services supervision, said participation would help inform regulatory approaches to tokenised money, particularly in cross-border payments and wholesale settlement.

“The initiative also allows us to carefully explore emerging innovations, while ensuring our oversight remains prudent, proportionate, and responsive to evolving risks,” she said.

The announcement establishes a framework-development effort involving regulators and industry. It does not announce the launch of a common digital currency or a new public payment service.

Participants will examine how international standards and jurisdiction-specific supervisory expectations can apply to cross-border transactions while accommodating differences in local requirements.

Settlement and compliance take priority

The work will focus on three areas.

• The first concerns acceptance and settlement: how financial institutions accept different forms of digital money, establish contractual relationships and complete transactions across markets.
• The second addresses interoperability between networks and infrastructure. The aim is to develop technical and operational approaches that allow different digital money arrangements to work together.
• The third covers programmable controls, including identity verification, sanctions screening and transaction safeguards embedded in digital money transactions.

MAS said common implementation frameworks and aligned commercial arrangements would reduce the need for institutions to negotiate separate arrangements with every counterparty or market. That could lower implementation costs and shorten the time needed to introduce services. Central bank participation is intended to ensure regulatory and public-policy considerations are incorporated as those approaches develop.

Payment networks and World Bank join

BLOOM’s expanded membership includes Airwallex, Mastercard, Maybank, Monee, Nium, Ripple, ShopeePay, Visa and the World Bank Group.

They join existing participants including Kasikornbank, DBS, J.P. Morgan, Circle, Coinbase, Standard Chartered and UOB. The World Bank Group will contribute experience in payment-system modernisation, cross-border payments and financial inclusion, bringing developing-economy perspectives to the work.

“The future of finance will involve multiple forms of digital money operating across different institutions and markets,” said Leong Sing Chiong, MAS deputy managing director for markets and development.

For Thailand, participation creates a channel to help shape the rules surrounding cross-border tokenised money. The next stage will centre on translating that coordination into workable settlement, contractual and compliance arrangements. MAS’s announcement did not specify a commercial rollout date.