PETALING JAYA: Bank Negara Malaysia and Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd are collaborating with international partners on a proof-of-concept (POC) to improve the cost and speed of cross-border payments.
Dubbed Project Nexus, the POC will explore the feasibility of linking the real-time payment systems in Malaysia, Singapore and the euro area. This will enable customers to send and receive cross-border payments instantly and securely.
The results, expected to be published by end-2022, will inform future development of a global network of real-time payment systems to enable fast and seamless cross-border payments. The prototypes developed under the POC will not be available for public use at this juncture.
Led by the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub, Project Nexus is closely aligned with the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments. Other international partners in the project are Banca d’Italia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Banking Computer Services Pte Ltd.
Malaysia’s participation in Project Nexus complements the country’s existing efforts in linking the RPP/DuitNow with other real-time payment systems in the Asean region. A payment linkage between Malaysia and Thailand was launched in June 2021 to enable instant cross-border QR code payments between both countries. The services facilitated by the linkage will be expanded in 2022 to support real-time fund transfers using just mobile numbers.
Efforts are also under way to establish similar payment linkages with Indonesia and Singapore, that will be launched by the end of 2021 and 2022 respectively.
