Singapore and Germany’s central banks have entered into a new partnership focused on advancing the future of cross-border digital asset settlements. The agreement, announced at Singapore’s annual FinTech Festival, aims to make international financial transactions faster, cheaper, and more interoperable across global markets.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Deutsche Bundesbank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see the two institutions jointly develop new settlement mechanisms for digital assets. The deal was formalized by MAS Deputy Managing Director Leong Sing Chiong, Bundesbank Executive Board member Burkhard Balz, and Digital Euro Director General Alexandra Hachmeister.
Building the Next Generation of Cross-Border Finance
Under the MoU, the two central banks will collaborate on a series of technological and regulatory initiatives centered around digital asset settlement. The partnership aims to tackle long-standing inefficiencies in cross-border transactions by introducing common standards for payments, foreign exchange, and securities settlement.
These standards will support the regulation and interoperability of tokenized real-world assets, ensuring that digital asset ecosystems can connect more seamlessly across jurisdictions.
Leong Sing Chiong expressed that this collaboration is designed to enhance financial connectivity between Singapore and Germany, benefiting retail users, institutions, and broader financial markets. He noted that the work could form the backbone of next-generation digital infrastructure.
Echoing this view, Burkhard Balz said the partnership underscores a shared ambition to foster innovation and introduce new benchmarks for international payment and securities systems.
Built on the Foundation of Singapore’s Project Guardian
The collaboration will extend and strengthen Project Guardian, MAS’s flagship digital-asset initiative. Launched in 2022, Project Guardian brings together over 40 institutions including regulators, banks, asset managers, and industry groups to test and deploy tokenization use cases in a controlled environment.
The initiative focuses on accelerating tokenization of financial instruments and developing the broader infrastructure needed for a global digital asset marketplace.
Earlier in 2025, Singapore signed a similar cooperation agreement with the U.K. to deepen collaboration in digital finance, capital markets innovation, sustainable finance, and emerging technologies like AI and tokenization.
With Germany now joining forces with Singapore, MAS continues to position the country as a leading hub for institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure.
