UK and Singapore officials examined cross-border uses of tokenized assets at their 11th financial dialogue in Singapore on Tuesday, as both governments pursue changes to wholesale financial markets.
HM Treasury and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said officials reviewed developments in crypto-assets and stablecoins. Separately, they discussed what digital money could mean for wholesale markets and settlement between financial institutions.
The digital markets discussion covered Singapore’s Project Guardian, BLOOM and Global Layer One, alongside the UK’s Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy and Digital Securities Sandbox. Officials also considered tokenization work by the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Tokenization involves representing an asset digitally so it can be held or transferred through a digital system.
The agenda extended beyond digital assets. MAS and the FCA reviewed progress under the UK-Singapore AI in Finance Partnership, including work on a taxonomy for artificial intelligence. Officials discussed Singapore’s Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime (SAFR) initiative, which sets out a framework for AI agents carrying out financial tasks, and the UK’s AI Adoption Plan for Financial Services.
On capital markets, HM Treasury described reforms and efforts to widen access to private capital. MAS outlined measures intended to strengthen Singapore’s equities market and improve financing for growing businesses. The talks also covered UK transition finance initiatives and continuing revisions to Singapore’s Singapore-Asia Taxonomy 2.0.
The meeting addressed both the systems that could connect financial markets across borders and the safeguards being developed as firms use new technology. The joint statement set out the areas discussed but did not specify an agreement on a shared digital market system.
An industry-led business roundtable is scheduled for Oct. 21. The UK will host the next financial dialogue in 2027, when it is due to hold the G20 presidency and Singapore the Association of Southeast Asian Nations chairmanship.
