RBI Inks Pact to Link UPI with Four ASEAN Countries for Retail Payments
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced on Monday a collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the central banks of four ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries to work on Project Nexus. This platform aims to facilitate instantaneous cross-border retail payments.
Nexus, conceptualized by the Innovation Hub of BIS, seeks to connect the Fast Payment Systems (FPS) of four ASEAN countries—Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand—with India. These countries will be the founding members and first movers of this platform.
"Reserve Bank of India has been collaborating bilaterally with various countries to link India’s Fast Payments System (FPS) – the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), with their respective FPSs for cross-border Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Merchant (P2M) payments. While India and its partner countries can continue to benefit through such bilateral connectivity of Fast Payment Systems, a multilateral approach will provide further impetus to our efforts in expanding the international reach of Indian payment systems," said the RBI.
Expected to go live by 2026, the platform will interlink the domestic FPS of the four countries. The central banks of these countries are the founding members and first movers of the platform. "The platform can be extended to more countries, going forward. Once functional, Nexus will play an important role in making retail cross-border payments efficient, faster, and more cost-effective," added the RBI.
