Singapore's BLOOM initiative expands with Malaysia and Thailand

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced that Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand have joined the BLOOM initiative as policymaker members. BLOOM, which stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, and Multi-currency, aims to develop common approaches for the acceptance, exchange, and settlement of cross-border digital money, including tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins.

The initiative brings together central banks, financial institutions, and technology providers to address challenges in cross-border transactions, such as differing local rules and system interoperability. The expanded group now includes participants such as Airwallex, Mastercard, Maybank, Nium, Ripple, ShopeePay, Visa, and the World Bank Group. The World Bank Group is expected to provide perspectives regarding the needs of developing economies.

Work within the initiative will focus on three primary areas: acceptance and settlement processes, interoperability between different digital money networks, and programmable controls, including identity verification and sanctions screening. By aligning commercial and operating arrangements, the initiative seeks to prevent financial institutions from having to establish separate frameworks for every individual counterparty or market.