Singapore: Maybank Singapore Ltd today announced its participation in the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) borderless, liquid, open, online, multi-currency (BLOOM) initiative aimed at advancing next-generation, best-in-class cross-border payments and transaction banking infrastructure.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, BLOOM is an industry initiative that seeks to enhance cross-border settlement through tokenised bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins, enabling a more interoperable and seamless financial ecosystem. This builds on a series of tokenisation milestones for Maybank in ASEAN, including its role in anchoring the inaugural tokenised sukuk issuance by Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

Maybank Singapore also completed the first on-chain Malaysian ringgit-Singapore dollar foreign exchange conversion and cross-border payment for Yinson Holdings Bhd in real time under Bank Negara Malaysia's Digital Asset Innovation Hub, as stated in a company statement.

The bank's country chief executive officer and CEO Alvin Lee commented that through BLOOM, Maybank aims to help shape the common standards and infrastructure principles needed to enable the future of digital finance in Singapore, in collaboration with MAS and industry participants, including financial technology players. Lee emphasized that the collaboration aligns with ROAR30, Maybank's five-year strategic plan to deliver value-based offerings, making banking more efficient and accessible, particularly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Furthermore, Maybank's digital investments in tokenisation are part of its ROAR30 commitment to invest RM10 billion (SG$3.2 billion) over five years in technology, data, and artificial intelligence (AI).