KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 (Bernama) -- The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and partners, including Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), have completed the comprehensive blueprint for Phase Three of Project Nexus, which will allow ready participants to work towards the next stage of seamlessly connecting their instant payment systems (IPS).
In a statement, BNM said Phase Four will see BNM, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Bank of Thailand and domestic IPS operators -- who worked together in phase three -- joined by the Reserve Bank of India, expanding the potential user base to India’s Unified Payments Interface, the world’s largest IPS.
Bank Indonesia will continue its association with the project with special observer status. It took part in Phase Three and will continue in this capacity to follow the project in its next development stage.
“With the completion of Phase Three, we are another step closer to implementing a next-generation cross-border payment infrastructure.
“The comprehensive blueprint for taking Project Nexus forward is a product of the strong cooperation of participating ASEAN central banks working closely with the BIS to deliver a world-leading cross-border payment infrastructure.
“This will not only benefit our nations but also pave the way for greater global payment connectivity. We welcome India to the next phase of Project Nexus,” said BNM governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour.
Meanwhile, BIS general manager Agustin Carstens said project Nexus, when implemented, will significantly enhance cross-border payments in line with both the G20 cross-border payments programme and BIS’ mission to develop public goods in the technology space to support central banks and improve the functioning of the financial system.
“Even with just the first wave of connected countries, Nexus has the potential to connect a market of 1.7 billion people globally, allowing them to make instant payments to each other easily and cheaply,” he added.
Nexus is a BIS Innovation Hub project that seeks to enhance cross-border payments by connecting multiple domestic IPS globally and standardising the way domestic IPS connect to one another.
“Rather than an IPS operator building custom connections for every new country to which it connects, the operator only needs to make one connection to Nexus. This single connection would allow the IPS to reach all other countries in the network,” BNM said.
-- BERNAMA
