Singapore's MAS Expands Asset Tokenization Efforts with Financial Industry Collaboration

According to Foresight News, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced that it is working with the financial industry to expand its asset tokenization initiatives and develop the foundational capabilities to broaden the tokenized market. MAS is launching a new fund workflow within the Project Guardian industry organization, focusing on the local issuance of Variable Capital Company (VCC) funds on digital asset networks, aiming to address tax, policy, and legal issues while increasing distribution channels for asset management firms. The Project Guardian industry organization, which involves 17 financial institutions, has initiated five additional industry pilot projects to test promising asset tokenization use cases. Citigroup, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and Fidelity International are testing institutional mechanisms for effectively pricing and executing bilateral digital asset transactions, as well as exploring real-time post-trade reporting and analysis for digital asset trading. Bank of New York Mellon and OCBC Bank are trialing cross-border foreign exchange payment solutions to achieve secure, interoperable payment solutions across heterogeneous networks. Ant Group is testing a funds management solution that will enable real-time multi-currency clearing and settlement through its global financial center in Singapore, which supports over 40 currencies. Franklin Templeton is exploring the issuance of tokenized money market funds through a VCC structure that utilizes digital asset networks to maintain fund share records. JPMorgan and Apollo are collaborating to use digital assets for seamless investment and management of discretionary portfolios and alternative assets, automated portfolio rebalancing, and large-scale customization. Furthermore, MAS is working with Bank of New York Mellon, DBS Bank, JPMorgan, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group to explore the design of an open digital infrastructure for the custody of tokenized financial assets and applications. This 'Global Layer One' (GL1) initiative will facilitate seamless cross-border transactions and enable tokenized assets to be traded in global liquidity pools while meeting relevant regulatory requirements and guidelines.