S&P Global Ratings, an independent credit ratings provider, has joined Singapore’s Project Guardian led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, focusing on exploring asset tokenization.
The company announced its participation on Thursday, confirming its role in the risk assessment within the fixed income workstream. Specifically, S&P will develop frameworks, assessments, and benchmarks for digital assets and tokenized markets.
According to Andrew O’Neill, Digital Assets Analytical Lead at S&P Global Ratings, recent advancements in tokenized bonds highlight the potential of digitalization to revolutionize capital markets.
“We intend to leverage our risk perspective and insights in this initiative to bolster robust risk management as this technology integrates into financial markets.”
Additionally, Chuck Mounts, Chief DeFi Officer at S&P, emphasized that S&P’s rigorous risk assessment capabilities would benefit clients in both traditional finance (TradFi) and the decentralized finance (DeFi) sectors.
S&P and Financial Heavyweights Join Project Guardian
The announcement follows Deutsche Bank, a German multinational investment bank, joining Project Guardian a month earlier. As part of this collaboration, the bank will test an open, interoperable blockchain platform designed for managing tokenized assets.
Project Guardian’s objective is to explore various applications of asset tokenization, encompassing listing, distribution, trading, settlement, and asset servicing.
Moreover, the project involves global policymakers and prominent financial institutions such as BNY Mellon, DBS, JP Morgan, and MUFG.
On Thursday, MAS disclosed its plans to expand initiatives aimed at advancing asset tokenization in financial services. The central bank of Singapore highlighted its ongoing collaboration with 24 financial institutions under Project Guardian over the past two years.
MAS also announced the successful completion of the initial phase of the Global Layer One (GL1) initiative, an extension of the ambitious Project Guardian involving 17 financial institutions. This initiative facilitates seamless cross-border transactions and trading of tokenized assets across different liquidity pools.
According to Leong Sing Chiong, Deputy Managing Director of MAS, “The GL1 initiative represents a significant advancement towards realizing the potential of asset tokenization and achieving efficiencies in capital markets.”
