Across our organisation, volunteering provides employees with a meaningful way to put our values into practice. Through active participation and engagement with local communities, our teams contribute to initiatives that create positive and lasting change.

Around the globe, employees share their time, expertise and enthusiasm through a wide range of activities, including practical volunteering, mentoring, partnerships with local organisations and community-driven programmes. These efforts help address local needs and contribute to stronger, more resilient communities in the places where we operate.

Our 2025 Corporate Sustainability Report provides examples of volunteering initiatives undertaken around the world. This article focuses specifically on the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, where employees delivered several notable community programmes throughout 2025.

Community impact across APAC
During 2025, employee engagement across APAC generated significant community impact, with teams in China and Malaysia playing an important role. Their combined efforts supported programmes focused on education, healthcare, environmental sustainability and inclusion, helping communities address local challenges and build longer-term opportunities.

In China, the team's Act for A Better Future volunteering campaign received two Sustainable Responsibility awards for the fourth year in a row. Since its launch in 2022, the programme has involved more than 4,000 employees in over 20 initiatives. Its activities have focused on areas such as education, healthcare and environmental protection, with particular attention given to migrant and rural children. The programme illustrates how employee participation can help expand opportunities for communities that may face greater barriers to accessing resources and support.

Malaysia also recorded substantial employee participation during the year. More than 200 volunteers took part in initiatives spanning education, health, sustainability and inclusion. Their contribution formed part of the 7,990 volunteer hours recorded across APAC in 2025. The work was also recognised through AMCHAM CARES, highlighting the value of collaboration between businesses, employees and local communities.

In Kuala Lumpur, sustainability and creativity were brought together during the Hats Off to a Greener Future Annual Dinner. Employees took part in the One World, One Rhythm Sustainability Musical Competition, using performance and artistic expression to promote environmental awareness. Teams created hats using recycled materials and incorporated cultural storytelling into choreographed performances, demonstrating how sustainability themes can be communicated through creative community activities.

Building a culture of community engagement
The initiatives undertaken across APAC demonstrate how employee volunteering can contribute to stronger communities while reflecting a broader culture of responsibility and care. When employees are encouraged to address needs within their own communities, their local actions can collectively contribute to wider progress toward a more sustainable future.

The Project Pigeon consortium, jointly convened by Elliptic, the Digital Asset Association (DAA), the Responsible Fintech Institute (RFI) and Baker McKenzie, has announced the creation of “Project Pigeon: A Working Group for Permissionless Blockchain Governance in APAC.” The regional initiative aims to support safe and compliant innovation on public blockchain networks by giving financial institutions practical frameworks for managing risks and regulatory obligations in a rapidly changing environment.

The initiative draws its name from carrier pigeons, symbolising the consortium’s ambition to establish trusted governance structures that facilitate secure communication and value transfer across open and decentralised blockchain ecosystems.

The working group has been launched following the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) April 2026 Consultation Paper on the prudential treatment of crypto assets operating on permissionless blockchains. Project Pigeon will seek to help banks and other financial institutions understand and respond to the regulatory issues highlighted by MAS through a framework built around four key risk areas, with each workstream led by one of the consortium’s co-convenors:

The initiative brings together banks, crypto-native businesses, digital asset exchanges and established financial institutions from across the Asia-Pacific region. Given the potential systemic implications of permissionless blockchain adoption, the consortium has also created observer and consulting positions for prominent regulatory authorities.

Baker McKenzie will act as the consortium’s official secretariat, overseeing editorial activities, regulator engagement and governance administration. The working structure will include plenary meetings every two weeks, dedicated sessions for each of the four workstreams, quarterly regulatory engagement checkpoints and monthly assessments by a central Steering Committee made up of representatives from DAA, RFI, Elliptic and Baker McKenzie.

The consortium’s principal output will be an industry guide titled “Pigeon Permissionless Blockchains.” The publication is intended to provide financial institutions with a practical, end-to-end risk management lifecycle and actionable guidance for risk and compliance professionals. It will draw on established industry standards and regulatory requirements and is expected to cover risk classifications, risk-event catalogues, preventive and detective controls, governance arrangements, control-testing methodologies, as well as issue management and reporting procedures.

A separate regulatory briefing will also be produced for supervisors across the APAC region. The industry guide is currently scheduled for publication in Q1 2027.

Commenting on the initiative, the consortium’s workstream leaders highlighted the importance of developing a common approach to permissionless blockchain risk management.

Chia Hock Lai, Chairman of the Responsible Fintech Institute (RFI), said robust governance is essential to bridging the gap between decentralised blockchain principles and the requirements of institutional finance. The workstream will focus on developing transparent accountability structures capable of meeting regulatory expectations while preserving innovation.

Jag Foo, ExCo Member and Chair of the Digital Assets Security Subcommittee at the Digital Assets Association (DAA), said public blockchain technology offers significant potential but also presents considerable complexity. The DAA-led workstream will therefore focus on practical controls designed to protect financial institutions against protocol weaknesses and malicious network activity.

Stephanie Magnus, Principal, Financial Services Regulatory and FinTech at Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow, emphasised the importance of legal certainty as permissionless blockchain networks become increasingly relevant to financial markets. She noted that the project provides an opportunity to examine legal and governance questions and develop practical solutions for industry participants.

June Lau, APAC Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Elliptic, highlighted the need for financial crime controls to evolve alongside the growing adoption of permissionless blockchain networks. She said the integration of on-chain analytics and Travel Rule compliance into operational processes can help strengthen both transparency and security.

Financial institutions, technology companies and regulatory organisations interested in participating are invited to join the working groups or take part in the public consultation process. Organisations wishing to contribute expertise or receive updates on Project Pigeon can contact the consortium’s secretariat.