KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd
(Maybank) is launching the first ringgit tokenised money pilot with Yinson Holdings Bhd as a participant, under Bank Negara's Digital Asset Innovation Hub (DAIH).
The pilot will explore on-chain cross-border payments involving ringgit and other Asean deposit tokens on Maybank’s permissioned blockchain.
"The initiative will assess the technical feasibility and operational readiness of executing on-chain transactions securely and in near real-time, while helping to shape the foundational design of next generation money rails and payment infrastructure," said the bank in a statement.
Maybank president and group CEO Datuk Sri Khairussaleh Ramli said the bank is taking a holistic, pragmatic and inclusive approach to progressively expanding digital assets and tokenisation initiative into areas like investing, Islamic finance and supporting SMEs.
"We continue to work on innovation to deliver tangible benefits for our clients like Yinson and the broader real economy, while upholding the highest standards of governance, security and regulatory integrity.”
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.
Meanwhile, Yinson group CEO Lim Chern Yuan said the group is open to leverage innovative technology with the support of regulators and established financial institutions like Maybank.
"Enabled by on-chain solutions, shorter settlement cycles to almost real-time allows Yinson to further manage working capital more efficiently and reduce foreign exchange exposure and transaction costs," he said.
