Singapore (Commonwealth Union)_ Malaysia and Thailand have joined Singapore’s BLOOM initiative, strengthening regional efforts to make cross-border payments faster, more efficient, and easier to manage through digital money. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced this week that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) had become policymaker members of BLOOM. The move expands the initiative from a Singapore-led program into a regional effort involving three central banks. Launched in October 2025, BLOOM stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency. It brings together central banks, financial institutions, payment networks and technology providers to explore how digital money can improve international financial transactions.
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The initiative focuses on digital forms of money, such as tokenized bank deposits and regulated stablecoins. Such technologies could enable financial institutions to move and settle funds across borders without needing separate arrangements for each market or business partner. As digital banking expands, cross-border payments remain a key challenge. In traditional payment systems, there can be several intermediaries, complex processes and high operating costs. Also, transactions can take longer due to differences in national regulations and payment networks. To address these issues, BLOOM supports common standards, better compatibility between systems and standardisation of settlement processes.
Under the program, participating central banks will work with financial institutions and technology companies in their respective markets. They aim to establish shared standards for how digital money is accepted, exchanged and settled across different financial institutions and countries. These approaches will consider international standards while respecting each country’s regulatory requirements. MAS said that bringing more participants into the initiative would help keep public policy and regulatory issues at the heart of its development.
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Nine organizations have also joined BLOOM: Airwallex, Mastercard, Maybank, Monee, Nium, Ripple, ShopeePay, Visa and the World Bank Group. They join existing participants, including DBS, J.P. Morgan, Circle, Coinbase, Standard Chartered, Stripe and Temasek. Their expertise is in payments, banking infrastructure and financial technology. The World Bank Group also brings experience in financial inclusion and payment modernisation. More connected digital payment systems could make international trade, treasury operations and money transfers easier for businesses. Shared frameworks may reduce duplicated work, lower implementation costs and help financial institutions introduce services more quickly.
However, BLOOM remains a developing initiative rather than a fully operational cross-border payment service. MAS has not announced a launch date, specific payment corridors or a named digital currency for the programme. A similar development took place in August, when Visa and Nium announced a pilot project to test stablecoin-based settlements in US dollars and euros, enabling transactions throughout the week, including weekends and public holidays. Overall, Malaysia and Thailand’s participation marks an important step towards regional cooperation. As digital money gains ground, BLOOM could help shape a banking system in which international payments become more connected, accessible and efficient.
