Vietnam’s central bank, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), has become the sixth participant in the Regional Payment Connectivity (RPC) initiative, first announced in 2022.
The SBV joins the central banks of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and signed the RPC’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the 10th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (AFMGM) held in August.
The addition of the SBV comes after the 9th AFMGM mandated the expansion of the RPC to include other ASEAN members, to promote cross-country economic growth, support small and medium-sized enterprises, increase trade and broaden financial inclusion.
“SBV is pleased to be a new signatory of the MOU on Cooperation in Regional Payment Connectivity and looks forward to the close coordination among all the parties to promote faster, cheaper, more transparent and more inclusive cross-border payments,” Pham Thanh Ha, Deputy Governor of SBV, said.
“The MOU shows our solidarity and marks a good starting point for cooperation to strengthen regional economic integration and advance payment connectivity toward making ASEAN a global leader in payments connectivity.”
The RPC initiative was first established in 2022 to “strengthen and enhance collaboration on payment connectivity through the development of faster, cheaper, more transparent, and more inclusive cross-border payments” across QR-codes and fast-payment enablers.