ANZ joins Singapore’s Project Guardian

The bank will explore blockchain interoperability to exchange tokenised real-world assets.

ANZ has joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian and will explore the use of tokenised real-world assets in financial markets.

The Australian-headquartered bank will join forces with Chainlink Labs and ADDX to explore interoperability between private blockchains to exchange tokenised real-world assets, such as commercial paper.

ANZ Singapore country head Mark Evans and ANZ banking services lead Nigel Dobson said that they are pleased to join Project Guardian.

“ANZ has been in Singapore for 50 years and over that time, our customers have benefited from the bank having access to a regulatory environment that truly fosters innovation,” Evans said.

Since 2022, Project Guardian has supported collaboration between policy makers and the financial industry to enhance liquidity and efficiency of financial markets through asset tokenisation.

Dobson, meanwhile, noted the highly fragmented nature of tokenised asset markets, which he said can limit its adoption whilst making the integration process for financial institutions complex.

“We are pleased to join Project Guardian and look forward to demonstrating how our emerging Digital Assets capabilities, such as A$DC, can be used to support our customers to move goods and capital across the region,” Dobson said.