Maybank is kicking off a pilot that puts Ringgit deposits on a blockchain, testing whether tokenised bank money can speed up cross-border payments across Southeast Asia.
It has launched its first Ringgit tokenised money pilot with Yinson Holdings as a participant under Bank Negara Malaysia's Digital Asset Innovation Hub. The trial will explore on-chain cross-border payments involving ringgit and other Asean deposit tokens on Maybank's permissioned blockchain.
The initiative will assess technical feasibility and operational readiness for executing on-chain transactions securely and in near real time, as well as help shape the design of next-generation payment rails and infrastructure.
For Yinson, which has diverse businesses and operations across multiple jurisdictions, the appeal is shorter settlement cycles that could improve working capital management while reducing foreign exchange exposure and transaction costs. "Enabled by on-chain solutions, shorter settlement cycles to almost real-time allow Yinson to further manage working capital more efficiently and reduce foreign exchange exposure and transaction costs," says Yinson Group CEO Lim Chern Yuan.
Building on this first pilot, Maybank aims to pioneer a range of tokenised assets, including tokenised Islamic finance for businesses from large corporates to SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and retail customers, including wealth solutions.
Through programmable money, the bank aims to empower SMEs by automating transparent payment flows from anchor clients such as governments and corporates, enabling payment transparency that can eventually unlock accessibility to financing.
For wealth clients, the bank is exploring tokenised investment products, especially Islamic finance assets such as Sukuk and funds to enable broader participation through fractionalisation.
"At Maybank, our ROAR30 strategy to become the leading global Islamic finance institution, and ASEAN’s leading wealth management, transactions, payments, corporate and investment bank compels us to reimagine how money moves and what our clients demand. Together with regulators, clients and partners, and taking a holistic, pragmatic and inclusive approach, we will progressively expand digital assets and tokenisation initiatives into areas like investing, Islamic finance and supporting SMEs," says Dato' Sri Khairussaleh Ramli, Maybank president and group chief executive officer.
