Bank of Communications Macau Branch Joins mBridge as a Founding Participant

On June 1st, the Macau Branch of Bank of Communications officially became one of the first batch of participating institutions in the Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge (mBridge), as announced by the Monetary Authority of Macao. On June 2nd, it successfully launched two landmark transactions in the Macau region: a cross-border remittance of digital Macau pataca in collaboration with Macau Craft Company Limited, and a cross-border receipt of 500 million yuan in digital renminbi in partnership with Far East Horizon Limited, achieving a breakthrough for mBridge operations in Macau with these live transactions.

The Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge (mBridge) is a cross-border payment infrastructure for multiple central bank digital currencies, spearheaded by several sovereign central banks and built on distributed ledger technology. The platform focuses on establishing cross-border interconnectivity for legal digital currencies, enabling direct peer-to-peer clearing links for CBDCs across different jurisdictions. This significantly shortens the cross-border settlement cycle and effectively reduces the cost of cross-border transaction fees.

As a major state-owned commercial bank with a deep presence in the Macau market, the branch's participation as a founding institution on the "bridge" provides local clients with more efficient and lower-cost cross-border fund settlement services. Bank of Communications will leverage its involvement in the mBridge project as an opportunity, utilizing its global integrated service network to further expand the application of the currency bridge across diverse scenarios such as cross-border settlement, trade finance, and cross-border fund pooling. It aims to explore the market potential for China-Portugal economic and trade cooperation, contribute to building a secure, efficient, open, and inclusive cross-border digital financial ecosystem, and continuously inject momentum into the deepening of China-Portugal economic ties and the high-quality development of Macau's digital finance industry.