This month saw a range of activities, with a flurry of DLT and blockchain related announcements, to innovative supply chain and payment solutions. Below we summarize some of the month’s highlights.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on March 9 the successful conclusion of a proof-of-concept project to conduct domestic inter-bank payments using distributed ledger technology.
The project was carried out in partnership with DLT company R3 and a consortium of financial institutions, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, DBS, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, OCBC Bank, Singapore Exchange (SGX) and UOB, as well as BCS Information Systems acting as the project technology provider.
The project has achieved the objectives of producing a digital representation of the Singapore dollar for interbank settlement, testing methods of connecting bank systems to a DLT, and making the MAS electronic payment system (MEPS+) inter-operate with the DLT for automated collateral management.
Deloitte said on March 30 that it has been working with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the leading trade finance banks in Hong Kong to develop a DLT proof of concept for trade finance.
Industry participants include Bank of China (Hong Kong), The Bank of East Asia, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered.
The project, focusing on trade finance, has resulted in the design and development of a proof of concept leveraging DLT to create a platform for banks, buyers and sellers, and logistics companies.
Meanwhile, PwC announced that it is working with Alibaba’s Australian subsidiary to develop a framework for preventing fraud and building trust in the supply chain of food products traded on Alibaba’s platform. The framework will include the use of blockchain technology.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed at Parliament House, Canberra on March 24.
The framework will initially be piloted for goods imported into China from Australia and New Zealand.
MasterCard said on March 16 they would be partnering with Eko-pay, to introduce Eko-B2B, a new digital payment solution for businesses in Asia-Pacific. Eko-B2B provides businesses with an automated payment solution for business-to-business (B2B) payment transactions, integrating the Mastercard inControl platform to facilitate business payments, reducing inefficiencies and improving transparency.
MasterCard also began piloting ‘tap-and-go’ on public transport in Singapore on March 20 using credit and debit cards, partnering with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority.
Xero, a cloud accounting platform, is collaborating with HSBC to enable small businesses in Hong Kong and Singapore to connect their bank accounts with Xero, which will enable small businesses to have their bank transactions appear automatically on the Xero online ledger. This eliminates the need for manual keying or the importing of bank transactions, and allows small businesses to manage cash flow from within Xero.
United Overseas Bank on March 23 received preliminary approval from the State Bank of Vietnam to establish a foreign-owned subsidiary bank in Vietnam. UOB will be the first Singaporean bank to be granted a foreign-owned subsidiary bank license. The announcement was made by the State Bank of Vietnam during an official visit to the country by Singapore’s Prime Minister, Le Hsien Loong.
The Carlyle Group has acquired a significant minority stake in Delhivery Private Limited, India’s largest third-party supply chain services company focused on digital commerce. Equity for this transaction came from Carlyle Asia Partners IV. Tiger Global, one of the existing investors of Delhivery, also invested additional capital. The combined investment is more than US$100 million.
And finally, Citibank on March 29 launched an open API developer portal in Hong Kong, along with its Citi HK fintech challenge. Citi also announced on March 21 that it had reached 1 million voice biometric users in Asia – a voice technology allowing for customer verification over the phone.
