06 Oct 2026

Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Bank Negara Malaysia Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) held a high-level bilateral meeting in Hong Kong on 2 October.  The two central banking institutions exchanged information and experiences and had comprehensive discussion covering macroeconomic and financial development; emerging banking regulatory issues; fintech and payment transformation; and strategies for advancing capital market connectivity, local currency usage and Islamic finance.

The two institutions agreed to strengthen bilateral collaborations in the following areas:

Establish a joint policy-focused workstream to promote compliant cross-border stablecoin use cases between Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Enhance collaboration on tokenisation and digital money, including through policy and regulatory exchange between both jurisdictions.

Explore opportunities for collaboration and facilitate knowledge sharing on data-driven applications, including Commercial Data Interchange (CDI) and CargoX, to expand trade finance access for SMEs in both economies.

Cross-border regulatory collaboration

Establish mechanisms to strengthen cross-border cyber resilience, as well as anti-scam and anti-fraud efforts.

Local currency usage and infrastructure linkages

Jointly promote the broader adoption of local currencies in bilateral trade and investment.

Enhance connectivity between the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems in Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Capital market connectivity

Explore central securities depository (CSD) linkage between Hong Kong’s CMU and the Real-time Electronic Transfer of Funds and Securities System (RENTAS), Malaysia’s multi-currency RTGS and CSD.

Enhance collaboration to advance Islamic finance market development and connectivity through supporting industry engagement, talent development, sustainable finance and cross-border investment.

Mr Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the HKMA said, “We are delighted to welcome the BNM delegation to Hong Kong.  This high-level meeting marks an important milestone in deepening collaboration between our two institutions to support financial market development and economic growth. Based on our shared vision, we look forward to advancing cooperation in fintech and digital asset innovation, improving the efficiency of cross-border local currency transactions, strengthening market connectivity, and fostering the growth of the Islamic finance market.”

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

6 October 2026