“We want cross-border payments to flow seamlessly like water. One way to do this is to build linkages across countries’ real-time payment systems, just as canals allow boats to pass from one body of water to another.”
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is seeking to achieve five desired outcomes through its collaborative fintech projects — instant remittance, atomic settlement, programmable money, tokenised assets and trusted sustainability data, says its managing director Ravi Menon.
During his opening address at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2022, Menon says the advent of real-time payment systems over the last few years has made domestic payment flows seamless in as many as 60 countries. However, the adoption of cross-border payments faces barriers, as it is slow, costly and relies on an archaic network of correspondent banks. Menon, citing the World Bank, notes that the global average cost of sending remittances is a hefty 6% of the transfer value. “This is particularly painful for the migrant worker who wants to send money home or the small businesses that want to reach out to overseas markets through e-commerce.”
