The Bank of England, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Bank of Thailand: Project Meridian FX APAC
Three central banks published findings from Project Meridian FX APAC, demonstrating how synchronised settlement could reduce risk and improve efficiency in cross-border foreign exchange transactions across diverse systems.
The Bank of England, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Bank of Thailand released findings from Project Meridian FX APAC, showing that synchronised settlement could support interoperability across wholesale settlement systems using different technologies and operating models. The project tested payment-versus-payment FX settlement and multilateral net FX across Real-Time Gross Settlement and Distributed Ledger Technology-based systems, spanning multiple currencies, time zones, and infrastructures. The trial, supported by Partior, demonstrated synchronised settlement across central bank systems with varying technologies while identifying operational requirements and trade-offs involved in the process.
Project Meridian FX APAC also examined legal, regulatory, and oversight considerations for applying synchronised FX settlement across diverse wholesale systems, with input from the Reserve Bank of Australia and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as observer central banks. The findings are detailed in three reports: Introduction and Executive Summary, Technical Report, and Policy Report, which outline experimental results, technical insights, and policy implications for further exploration.
The project builds on earlier work and provides practical evidence that synchronised settlement could reduce risk and improve efficiency in cross-border FX transactions, according to statements from officials at the participating central banks. The Bank of England plans to launch a live synchronisation interface in 2028, informed by the project’s insights.
The collaboration highlights how synchronisation could enable payment-versus-payment settlement across diverse environments, reducing settlement risk while supporting greater interoperability, as noted by participants including the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Bank of Thailand.