20 central banks participate in Hong Kong’s mBridge project, and trade settlement will be trialled next month

HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said at a sub-forum of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2024 that the mBridge project (a cross-border network for various central bank digital currencies, referred to as mBridge in Hong Kong) in cooperation with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the People's Bank of China and the Bank of Thailand, will conduct trade settlement trials next month with the participation of 20 central banks. Yue hopes that through relevant trials, liquidity and various infrastructure can be further improved and the framework can be expanded. Currently, 28 central banks participate as observers and it is believed that a highly effective network will be established in the future, allowing for instant settlement in local currency when conducting cross-border settlements.