Vietnamese technology company PILA and Singapore-listed TOTM Technologies will jointly develop cross-border digital trust infrastructure for ASEAN, starting with a system to verify letters of credit between banks in the two countries.
In a statement last Sunday, TOTM Technologies said the two sides have signed a memorandum of understanding for the cooperation. As the first project under the agreement, the companies will build a proof of concept that applies verifiable credentials-digital records that attest to the authenticity of information-to letters of credit, a payment instrument widely used in international trade.
Verifying a letter of credit issued by a foreign bank can currently take several days, requiring phone calls, checks through the SWIFT network and manual reconciliation of documents, TOTM Technologies stressed.
Under the proposed system, a bank issuing a letter of credit would also issue a verifiable credential attesting to its authenticity, allowing a receiving bank to confirm the issuer and the integrity of the document. The process is conducted through a mechanism compliant with TradeTrust, a framework developed by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority.
TOTM Technologies said the credentials can operate alongside existing letter-of-credit procedures without replacing them or changing the legal obligations of the parties, meaning the approach could be tested without legal changes.
PILA will operate the credential issuance and verification infrastructure in Vietnam through NDAKey, a blockchain-based system, while TOTM Technologies will provide technical integration with TradeTrust and expertise in blockchain, biometric identity and product traceability.
The letter-of-credit project is the first phase of a broader plan that could extend to digital product passports across the Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia trade corridors and to cross-border payment settlement infrastructure. The firms plan to explore with regulators, including through regulatory sandboxes. The work aligns with ASEAN’s Digital Economy Framework Agreement, TOTM Technologies added.
Chan Wei Jie, group chief executive and board director of TOTM Technologies, said trusted infrastructure based on verified digital identities is important to cross-border commerce in Southeast Asia. Nguyen Phu Dzung, chief executive of PILA, said securely verifiable digital identities and credentials recognized across borders would make transactions faster and more transparent.
PILA Group Joint Stock Company is a Vietnamese technology company that develops digital trust infrastructure, including blockchain, decentralized identity, verifiable credentials and traceability services. TOTM Technologies Limited (SGX: 42F) builds digital infrastructure across digital identity, AI, and quantum-safe technology.
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