• Published on 12 July 2023
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MAS and National Bank of Cambodia set up financial transparency corridor to support SME

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a Financial Transparency Corridor (FTC) initiative.

The initiative aims to establish supporting digital infrastructures to facilitate trade and cross-border related financial services between small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Singapore and Cambodia.

Under the FTC, a Singapore financial institution, in assessing financing support for a Singapore SME buyer’s cross-border business with a Cambodian SME seller, can utilise the FTC to acquire trusted information from a Cambodian financial institution on the Cambodian SME seller. Similarly, a Cambodian financial institution supporting a Cambodian seller can obtain trusted information on the Singapore buyer through the FTC. Through such enhanced information flows, this can help SME in Singapore and Cambodia access broader digital trade networks such as the Business Sans Border Proxtera global network, and provide SME with greater trade connectivity within ASEAN and other growth regions.

The supporting digital infrastructures under the FTC initiative aims to:

• Establish a consent-based digital infrastructure to facilitate information exchange between participating financial institutions in Singapore and Cambodia, to support the provision of cross-border financial services to SME.
• Support financial institutions’ loan assessments for trade financing and an SME’s compliance with anti-money laundering rules to mitigate risks and potential trade disputes.

Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer, MAS, said: “We are excited to partner with NBC to create the FTC, a first for our engagements in Asia. The FTC will support open trade flows for businesses, in particular SME, through enhancing financial trust data for financial services between Singapore and Cambodia. This will lead to closer partnerships between our financial centres for better products and innovative solutions, and stronger growth together for our economies in the global digital economy.”

Serey Chea, deputy governor, NBC, said: “In March, Singapore and Cambodia collaborated on cross-border sharing of individual consumer credit profiles that makes it easier for citizens from both countries to access financial services in their country of residence. We are also excited to take part in the creation of the FTC, which will further extend the two countries’ cross-border information sharing to businesses and SME. SME are the backbones of the Cambodian and Singaporean economies and their abilities to access financing beyond the border will greatly help them grow their operations and better contribute to both countries’ economic growth.”

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker