FINANCIAL SERVICES
Conference-goers who visited OCBC's booth display during the Singapore Fintech Festival 2023 were in for a treat: they were the first to get a taste of how the
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’ central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will be used. Visitors were able to avail of 5 Singapore digital dollars from OCBC, which they were then able to redeem at the UOB booth.
Whilst such digital novelties may seem routine to a country where almost 1 in 2 payment transactions are done electronically, the real magic lies behind the scenes: atomic settlement. Institutions– in this case, OCBC and UOB– will no longer need to wait days for their transaction to be settled in the system back-end.
What enabled OCBC to build up and become a main participant in Singapore’s CBDC ambitions is its expertise in blockchain technology: from payments, to a metaverse, and even in its in-house app for employees, the bank is making use of blockchain.
Ravindra Kumar, managing director of Group Technology Architecture at OCBC, shared their plans to launch to the public in 2024 at least one or two of the blockchain projects they featured at the event .
This story is from the Issue 106 edition of Singapore Business Review.
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This story is from the Issue 106 edition of Singapore Business Review.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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