Central banks of Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, and South Africa will develop and test a shared platform to process cross-border digital currency transactions, bypassing the need for intermediaries and slashing costs.
Residents in both countries will be able to make fund transfers via mobile numbers or virtual payment addresses, with efforts to connect Singapore's PayNow and India's Unified Payments Interface scheduled to complete next July.
Some 67% of personal investors in the country currently hold cryptocurrencies, with 78% owning Ethereum while 69% have Bitcoin, and 67% say the COVID-19 pandemic promoted them to invest more.
Mobile payment and e-commerce app launches the "interest-free credit" service at more than 40,000 stores as a pilot, with immediate access for Apple iOS customers and a July 2021 availability for Google Android users.
StanChart inks agreement with NTUC Enterprise to set up a joint venture offering digital banking services, making Singapore the second Asian market after Hong Kong plans to offer such services.