According to the central bank and regulator, digital transactions are not seamless and the full efficiency benefits of digitalization are not being realized, and the digital economy is not as inclusive as it should be.
«Just as governments collaborate on economic integration to advance prosperity, the time has come for them to do so with digital integration to seize new economic opportunities,» Ravi Menon, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) managing director, said in a speech on Monday.
At the launch of the «Foundational Digital Infrastructures for Inclusive Digital Economies» report, Menon called on the public and private sectors to come together to «co-create common digital infrastructures, and avoid the pitfalls of isolated technology solutions.»
Four Infrastructures
The report was published in conjunction with the central banks of Brunei, Cambodia, Ghana and Kenya, with support from Mastercard.
It highlighted digital identity, authorization and consent, payments interoperability and data exchange as foundational infrastructures that will enable interoperable solutions and seamless digital services to reach more people and businesses, at lower cost and greater convenience.
«We need foundational digital infrastructures - systems that allow different users, different solutions, and different devices to seamlessly interact with one another,» Menon said, noting that Singapore has the four infrastructures in place.
Interoperable and Connected
Menon said Singapore is now looking at how its digital infrastructures can be made interoperable and connected with the rest of the world, and intends to explore multilateral cross-border payments in a more scalable way.
MAS is has plans to work with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub Centre in Singapore to explore opportunities to improve cross-border payments by connecting payment systems to digital identities across borders.
It is also engaging financial regulators and central banks globally on their digital infrastructure initiatives to explore similar synergies and opportunities to move forward as a global digital community.
