SINGAPORE, Oct 23 — Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Bank of Thailand (BOT) have joined the Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency (BLOOM) initiative as policymaker members, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today.

MAS said that through the initiative, all three central banks will partner with industry players across their respective jurisdictions to develop common approaches for cross-border use of digital money.

It covers how different forms of digital money can be accepted, exchanged and settled across institutions, networks and jurisdictions.

“BLOOM is a public-private initiative that brings together policymakers, financial institutions, payment networks and technology providers to advance the use of digital money in cross-border financial activity,” the central bank said in a statement today.

The initiative aims to deepen engagement between policymakers and the industry on settlement infrastructure and frameworks that promote interoperability for cross-border digital money transactions.

It will include how relevant international standards and jurisdiction-specific supervisory expectations can be applied for such transactions, while allowing for differences in local requirements.

“Through the development of implementation frameworks and alignment of commercial and operating arrangements, BLOOM will reduce the need for financial institutions to establish separate arrangements with each counterparty or market, lowering implementation cost and improving time to market.

“At the same time, the participation of central banks will ensure that public policy and regulatory considerations are taken into account as these approaches are developed,” said MAS.

BLOOM’s participation has expanded to include Airwallex, Mastercard, Maybank, Monee, Nium, Ripple, ShopeePay, Visa and the World Bank Group.

Existing participants include Anchorage Digital, Ant International, Circle, Coinbase, DBS, JP Morgan, Kasikornbank, OCBC, Partior, Schroders, Standard Chartered, StraitsX, Stripe, Temasek, UOB and Xweave.

“Together, the participants are advancing digital money applications across payments, treasury and trade finance, including the use of tokenised deposits, regulated stablecoins and settlement across payment networks.

“The World Bank Group’s participation as a multilateral development bank provides an opportunity to contribute its global experience in payment systems modernisation, cross-border payments, and financial inclusion,” said MAS. — Bernama