Taiwan-ASEAN Trade Hits Record $190 Billion! DBS to Build Cross-Border Cash Management Ecosystem to Drive Asian Currency Payment Transformation

DBS Bank (Taiwan) today (29) hosted the financial summit 'Future of Asia's Payment Ecosystem: New Opportunities,' bringing together industry, government, and academic leaders and experts to discuss the evolution of Asia's payment ecosystem, cross-border payment transformation, and the rise of digital assets. Huang Sihan, CEO of DBS Bank (Taiwan), announced plans to leverage group resources to build a cross-border cash management ecosystem. By utilizing multi-currency clearing mechanisms and the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) for RMB, the bank aims to help clients fully capture new growth drivers in Asia.

With Asian currencies increasingly used as trade settlement currencies, bilateral trade between Taiwan and ASEAN surpassed $190 billion in 2025, reflecting an accelerating shift toward diversified currency flows within the region. Huang Sihan noted that DBS Bank (Taiwan) is committed to helping clients improve fund management efficiency by expanding remittance currencies and enhancing payment speed, offering remittance services covering SGD, RMB, HKD, and major ASEAN currencies. The DBS Group will become the first bank to obtain RMB clearing bank status and direct participation in the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) by the end of 2025. These advantages will serve as key tools for helping enterprises strengthen operational resilience across Asia.

The forum invited heavyweight opinion leaders from industry and academia as panelists, including Liu Meiling, CEO of Allpay Financial Technology and Chairman of the Electronic Payment Industry Association; Chen Weizhen, Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group; Professor Yang Yueping from the College of Law at National Taiwan University; and Chen Yixuan, Business Director for Taiwan at SWIFT. Additionally, senior executives from DBS Singapore joined the discussions, providing in-depth analysis on how Asian currencies are reshaping client operations and exploring the capacity challenges financial institutions face as multi-currency flows continue to grow.

During discussions on real-time payment ecosystems, cross-border payment innovation, and the latest developments in digital assets, experts unanimously agreed that market demand for improved fund efficiency, multi-currency small-value cross-border payments, and simplified corporate cross-border payment and collection processes is steadily rising. International banks and Asian peers are accelerating their respective initiatives.

DBS Bank will continue to drive financial services through digital innovation, leveraging its extensive Asia-focused business network and top-tier credit rating to help enterprises precisely position themselves in a rapidly changing macroeconomic environment and co-create a new era of sustainable growth.