Malaysia's Stock Exchange Eyes Blockchain for Bond Market Digitization

Malaysia's national stock exchange will explore the digitization of the country's bond market through a proof-of-concept blockchain project.

• Known as Project Harbour, the initiative will use distributed ledger technology (DLT) as a register for the Labuan Financial Exchange’s (LFX) bond marketplace.
• LFX is a subsidiary of Bursa Malaysia, the country's stock exchange, which is collaborating with Singapore-based fintech development firm Hashstacs on the project.
• The project will use DLT to enable a single source of information to be shared securely between participating banks and the exchange, a company press release said.
• DLT could create an industry-wide ecosystem that would pave the way for a "complete solution" in the clearing and settlement of bonds on the platform, said Hashstacs' managing director, Benjamin Soh.
• The trial will also look at improving operational efficiency and reducing cost for the exchange and for bond issuance.
• Bursa Malaysia, along with the Securities Commission of Malaysia, Labuan Financial Services Authority, CIMB Investment Bank Berhad and others will use Hashstac's infrastructure to test and manage the end to end life-cycle of the bonds.

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