BSP and MAS partner in cross-border payments push

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Valentina Vitali
Valentina Vitali
Research Analyst
Valentina is a Research Analyst and passionate about payments and fintech. Valentin enjoys analysing money transfer companies and the market. In her work, Valentina analyses payments data… Read more
  • The central banks of Singapore and the Philippines have announced a new collaboration to build an interoperable payment system for the two nations.
  • The organisations will use this opportunity to link their QR and real-time payment systems together.
  • “The BSP is taking the initial step in linking the Philippine payment system with those of our ASEAN neighbors, beginning with Singapore,” said a senior spokesperson for the BSP.

The Singaporean central bank has announced a new partnership with its equivalent in the Philippines.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said that it will work with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as part of a push to encourage interoperable payment systems between the two countries.

The organisations have worked together in the past, and agreed in 2017 to build out their shared range of financial technology options.

The new arrangement will build on that, linking the two countries’ QR and real-time payment systems together.

The two nations will also see a reduction in the price of payments, and a rise in how fast they happen.

The change has come after a push by the global G20 organisation to reduce the amount of friction in the international money transfer world.

In a statement, a senior figure at MAS said that the bank was pleased to be helping to “fast track” payments.

Ravi Menon, the organisation’s managing director, said that the agreed enhancements will expedite this goal.

“The enhancements to the MAS-BSP FinTech Cooperation Agreement will help fast track payments connectivity between Singapore and the Philippines,” he said.

He added that the combination of their real-time and QR code payments will act as a “concrete step” in the right direction.

“Critically, the linking of our QR and real-time payment systems also marks a concrete step towards the vision of an ASEAN network of interconnected real-time payment systems.”

BSP’s governor said that this was the first of several stages in a wider push.

Benjamin E. Diokno said that the two countries will be following the approach taken by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“The BSP is taking the initial step in linking the Philippine payment system with those of our ASEAN neighbors, beginning with Singapore,” he said.

He went on to say that the link will help enhance the “financial welfare” of people in the Philippines, especially those who participate in the nation’s large cross-border payments market.

“Effectively linking our QR and real-time payment systems will enhance the safety and efficiency of cross-border payments through the smoother and seamless international transfer of funds, ultimately promoting the financial welfare of Filipinos that regularly use cross-border payment services.”

If you want to get more details about how organisations like these are working together to enhance the cross-border payments sector, just head over to our reviews pages.


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