KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 6): Maybank Singapore has signed on to the BLOOM initiative, an industry programme led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

BLOOM — which stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online and Multi-currency — aims to improve how money moves across borders, according to a press statement issued on Thursday.

It does this by encouraging the use of digital settlement tools, including tokenised bank currencies and regulated stablecoins, to make cross-border payments faster, more efficient and more transparent.

“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 fintech players,” said Alvin Lee, Country CEO and CEO of Maybank Singapore.

Maybank’s participation in the BLOOM initiative is but one of a long line of tokenization milestones in ASEAN, with the bank highlighting achievements such as anchoring the inaugural tokenized sukuk issuance by Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad.

Other notable milestones include completing the first on-chain Malaysian Ringgit–Singapore Dollar FX conversion and cross-border payment for Yinson Holdings Berhad in real time, under Bank Negara Malaysia's Digital Asset Innovation Hub.

Alvin Lee also added that the BLOOM initiative aligns in values with their five-year strategy ROAR30, set around delivering value-based offerings alongside making banks more efficient and accessible for small and medium enterprises.

Maybank’s digital investments in tokenization forms part of its ROAR30 commitment to invest RM10 billion (S$3.2 billion) over five years in technology, data and artificial intelligence.