The Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) reaffirmed the close ties between the two authorities “at the fourth BDCB-MAS Bilateral Roundtable, and discussed new areas of collaboration.”
At the Roundtable, BDCB Managing Director, Rokiah Bakar and MAS Managing Director, Ravi Menon signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) “to deepen cooperation in banking and insurance supervision.”
The MoU will facilitate “the effective supervision of banks and insurers operating across the two jurisdictions, including through information exchange and cross border on-site inspections.”
BDCB and MAS also “exchanged views on recent economic and financial developments, cooperation in sustainable finance to accelerate climate change mitigation and adaptation in ASEAN, as well as developments in Central Bank Digital Currencies and cross-border payments.”
Ms Rokiah Badar remarked:
“The MOU solidifies existing longstanding relationships between BDCB and MAS in the field of financial sector development and stability.”
Mr Ravi Menon said:
“We had a good exchange of views, further strengthening the very good relations between MAS and BDCB.”
As covered in November 2022, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding “to jointly develop integrated and digital financial ecosystems for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from least developed countries (LDCs).”
The partnership will help MSMEs “enhance their digitalization capabilities and facilitate greater access to finance through open digital infrastructures.” As a start, MAS and UNCDF will collaborate “on developing the Pacific Islands Integrated Financial Ecosystem (PIIFE), to enable MSMEs and businesses in the Pacific Islands and Singapore to be more digitally connected.”
As reported last year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York Innovation Center (NYIC), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have announced a partnership aimed at experimenting with Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to improve the efficiency of cross border wholesale payments using multiple currencies. The initiative is part of Singapore’s Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+, using wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (wCBDCs).
The goal is to enhance designs for atomic settlement (instant) of cross-border cross-currency transactions, leveraging wCBDCs as a settlement asset.
