Joint UK—Singapore report on tokenised assets and announcements on collaborative partnerships

The Investment Association and the Investment Management Association of Singapore, in partnership with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), have released a joint report on challenges and opportunities in tokenised asset markets across the UK and Singapore. The report highlights an "adoption gap" between innovation in digital assets and investor requirements. It introduces a practical operational readiness checklist in section 4, to guide market participants looking to design and launch tokenised financial products.

Regarding next steps, the report recommends that:

• Individual firms establish robust governance frameworks tailored to tokenised assets, set clear investor engagement procedures, invest in staff training and maintain transparent client communication to build trust.
• Industry bodies standardise best practices and interoperable tech solutions, improve investor education, share risk intelligence and drive responsible innovation.
• International bodies convene to address obstacles, clarify regulatory expectations in DLT contexts and monitor global developments to manage regulatory divergence.

The UK FCA has also separately announced that it will enter a strategic partnership with Singapore to drive growth and AI innovation, while establishing a new presence in the country. This will enable innovative firms in the UK and Singapore to scale and operate across markets more effectively. In addition, the Bank of England has announced a collaboration with MAS and the Bank of Thailand to explore the technical and policy implications of settling foreign exchange (FX) transactions through testing synchronised settlement mechanisms. Participating central banks will conduct experiments that can potentially enable atomic, real-time FX transactions that are fast, secure and interoperable across diverse systems.

Return to main website.