Brunei Darussalam Central Bank, BDCB, and Bank of the Lao PDR, BOL, have officially joined the initiative, bringing the total to eight ASEAN central banks. The move was announced by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, BSP, in a joint statement. BDCB and BOL signed supplemental pages of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Regional Payment Connectivity during the 11th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting. The initiative aims to promote faster, cheaper, and more transparent cross-border payments, benefitting economic activities including trade facilitation and worker remittances. BSP and other central banks plan to expand the initiative beyond ASEAN in the future.