Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The Asian Development Bank(ADB) has launched a project to make cross-border securities transactions in the Asia-Pacific region more efficient and secure through the use of blockchaintechnology.
It will seek to develop ways to directly connect centralbanks and securities depositories in the ASEAN Plus Three region within ablockchain network, the ADB said in a statement on January 26.
The ADB said directly connecting the institutions within ablockchain network could reduce both transaction costs and settlement risks.However, there might be the possibility that securities are not exchangedwithin an agreed time frame.
Cross-border securities transactions in the ASEAN 3 regionare currently processed through a global network of custodians andcorrespondent banks, which go through global centres in either the UnitedStates or Europe. As a result, intraregional transaction settlements in ASEANPlus Three take at least two days, due to varying operating hours for marketswithin the same time zone, it added.
The ADB said the project will be carried out intwo phases including a designing phase which is expected to be completedby the end of March 2022, and a prototyping phase, scheduled for the secondquarter of 2022.
The results will be discussed with ASEAN Plus Threegovernment officials and members of the Cross-Border Settlement InfrastructureForum of the Asian Bond Markets Initiative, made up of central banks andsecurities depositories from across the region, it said.
The ASEAN 3 region consists of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and the Republic of Korea./.
