The Central Bank of Bahrain is collaborating with JPMorgan Chase and Bahrain-based Bank ABC to test the use of digital currency to speed up cross-border payments.
In the first phase of the pilot, Chase and Arab Banking Corporation BSC, or Bank ABC, will manage the settlement of corporate payments to and from the Kingdom of Bahrain in U.S. dollars, with plans to extend the pilot to central bank digital currencies, according to a recent press release.
The move follows the recent unveiling of Chase's
“Through this pilot with JPMorgan and Bank ABC, we aspire to address the inefficiencies and pain points which exist in the traditional cross-border payments arena,” said H.E. Rasheed Al-Maraj, governor of Bahrain’s central bank, in the release.
“We envisage major changes across the world with digital currencies, which will play a critical role in enabling future digital economies,” Sael Al Waary, Bank ABC’s deputy group chief executive, said in the release.
Ali Moosa, JPMorgan Chase's vice chairman of wholesale payments, said, “We are delighted to partner with a leading central bank and regulator like the CBB and an innovation-focused partner like Bank ABC to lead the buildout of a next generation payment and settlement infrastructure.”
