Project Mandala explores the feasibility of encoding jurisdiction-specific policy and regulatory requirements into a common protocol for cross-border transactions such as borrowing, foreign direct investment, or payments.
Disparate policy and regulatory frameworks between different jurisdictions are among the chief obstacles to smooth and efficient cross-border payments. They contribute to the regulatory compliance burden across the payment chain, increase the time for cross-border transactions and introduce uncertainties among stakeholders.
Project Mandala – a proof-of-concept run by BISIH Singapore Centre, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the Bank of Korea (BOK), the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), with the collaboration of financial institutions – seeks to ease the policy and regulatory compliance burden by automating compliance procedures, providing real-time transaction monitoring and increasing transparency and visibility around country-specific policies.
In doing so, it aims to address key challenges identified during Project Dunbar, which developed an experimental multiple central bank digital currency (mCBDC) platform.
The envisioned compliance-by-design architecture could enable a more efficient cross-border transfer of any digital assets including CBDCs and tokenised deposits. It could also serve as the foundational compliance layer for legacy and nascent wholesale or retail payment systems.
The measures could include quantifiable and configurable foreign exchange rules, as well as anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures.
Interim project update (May 2024)
Project Mandala has developed a second use case that investigates streamlining compliance processes related to cross-border financing of capital investments involving corporations in Korea and Australia. In parallel, the project explores compliance monitoring to show the usefulness of the Mandala protocol for central banks.
The new use case seeks to automate mandatory approvals and reporting requirements to the relevant authorities in both Australia and Korea in addition to concurrent sanctions screening and compliance checks against capital flow management measures in Korea.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
