Swift Launches Blockchain Pilot for Tokenised Deposits with 17 Banks
Swift has announced that its blockchain-based ledger is ready for initial use, enabling early adopter financial institutions to support 24/7 cross-border payments with tokenised deposits — and marking a decisive step in scaling the benefits of digital value across the regulated global financial system.
Seventeen banks from six continents are preparing to pilot live transactions, reflecting strong global demand for the new addition to Swift’s technology stack and its ability to unlock faster, more flexible money movement worldwide.
The shared ledger provides participating banks with a secure orchestration layer for bank-issued tokenised deposits on their own ledgers, enabling them to move funds for customers — including overnight and on weekends — before completing final settlement through existing systems.
Banks benefit from improved client experience and global liquidity efficiency without compromising compliance, credit, risk, and control standards embedded in existing payment processing.
It’s the first use case for the ledger, which Swift announced last year and designed and built with feedback from international financial institutions in just nine months.
The development sets the stage for next-generation innovation and interoperability on infrastructure already trusted to move the equivalent of world GDP every two to three days between more than 200 markets and with a record for sustaining the highest levels of operational excellence.
Thierry Chilosi, Chief Business Officer at Swift, said: “With our new ledger capability, we’re extending the trust and stability of established finance into the frontiers of digital money. It allows tokenised value to move across borders with the velocity and flexibility modern commerce expects, while maintaining the same high levels of resiliency, security, and compliance global finance requires.
“The strong support from banks shows the practical value of this approach — one that will help scale benefits globally while creating a foundation for future innovation in areas like programmable money and agentic commerce.”
The ledger, which will expand in functionality and availability after the initial controlled go-live phase, builds upon improvements already made by Swift and its community to existing rails.
A full 75 percent of payments on the network reach beneficiary banks within 10 minutes, and often in seconds, and the cooperative is going even further to advance the industry to meet the G20 targets for international transactions. With its community, Swift is implementing a retail payments framework that ensures upfront transparency on fees, full value delivery and a faster, more consistent experience for consumers.
Together with the ledger, the upgrades provide a strong foundation for the future that will enable value to move in any regulated form, anywhere, with the highest levels of security and resilience.
Banks that will pilot initial live transactions on the ledger include ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, DBS, and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). Others are FirstRand Bank Limited, HSBC, Itaú Unibanco, Lloyds Bank, Mashreq, MUFG Bank, OCBC, Standard Chartered, UBS, UOB, and Wells Fargo
Lisa Vasic, Managing Director, Transaction Banking, ANZ, said: “Swift’s digital ledger initiative is an important step in advancing real-time, always-on cross-border payment capabilities. By combining Swift’s trusted network with this new infrastructure, we see strong potential to help customers move funds in real-time and manage liquidity more flexibly.
“Building on our deep experience in digital assets, ANZ is committed to working with SWIFT and global partners to securely scale next-generation payments infrastructure and deliver more efficient, always-on payments capabilities.”
Pierre Fersztand, Global Head of Cash Management, Payments, Trade Solutions and Factoring for the BNP Paribas Group, said: “We are proud to be among the first banks to pilot Swift’s blockchain-based ledger – a significant milestone in the evolution of cross-border payments.
This achievement reflects BNP Paribas’ ongoing collaboration with Swift to shape the next phases of the ledger’s development. By supporting this initiative, we reaffirm our commitment to industrialising digital finance at scale. Our goal is clear: to deliver measurable value to corporate clients through faster, more transparent, and more secure transactions.”
Carl Slabicki, Head of Commercial, Global Payments & Trade at BNY, said: “We are pleased to continue collaborating with SWIFT on the use of shared ledger technology to support greater interoperability in cross-border payments.
“This work is an important step in understanding how these capabilities may evolve in a way that complements existing infrastructure and meets the needs of clients globally.”
Debopama Sen, Head of Payments, Services, Citi, said: “The launch of Swift’s blockchain-based ledger represents an important step towards enabling always-on payments and liquidity.
Collaborating on this initiative reinforces Citi’s commitment to our clients to make cross-border money movement seamless and instant. Leveraging Swift’s innovative blockchain-based messaging infrastructure allows us to create interoperable payment solutions, powered by Citi’s network, and enhances our ability to serve our global clients with greater speed, resilience and security.”
Lim Soon Chong, Group Head of Global Transaction Services (GTS) at DBS, said: “Blockchain-based ledgers and tokenised money enable banks to deliver greater speed, transparency and real-time liquidity to better support client needs.
“Interoperability with existing payment rails and application in real-world use cases will be critical for these capabilities to scale. By leveraging Swift’s extensive network with DBS’ track record in tokenised deposits and cross-border payments, we can contribute meaningfully as one of the pioneer banks on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger – underscoring our commitment towards shaping a resilient and future-ready global banking system.
Manish Kohli, Head of Global Payments Solutions at HSBC, said: “At HSBC, we are leading the charge in scaling tokenised deposits across multiple markets worldwide.
“We are pleased to be one of the first banks to connect our Tokenised Deposit Service to Swift’s new blockchain-based ledger infrastructure, building on our existing 24/7, compliant tokenised deposits capabilities.
“This is an important milestone in the evolution of cross-border payments and a positive step towards making them work the way our clients’ businesses operate today – in real time, across time zones, and without artificial cut-offs.
“By using tokenised deposits on a regulated, bank-issued basis and connecting them through SWIFT’s trusted global network, we can improve liquidity efficiency, strengthen cash-flow visibility, and deliver a more seamless 24/7 experience for corporates.”
Kim Verhaaf, Managing Director for Payments at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “This marks progress in the development of on-chain ecosystems. As an early participant, we have supported the development of Swift’s blockchain-based ledger, reflecting the value of industry collaboration in advancing digital finance.”
Joel Van Dusen, Group Head of Corporate and Investment Banking at Mashreq, said: “Mashreq is committed to shaping the future of financial services through innovation in digital banking. By collaborating with Swift to utilise next-generation ledger technologies, we will enable faster settlement and enhance the security of transaction processing for our clients.”
Masahiro Matsumoto, Senior Fellow, Global Head of Transaction Banking at MUFG Bank, said: “MUFG Bank is proud to join SWIFT and global industry partners in advancing the exploration of next-generation financial market infrastructure.
“We see strong potential for tokenized deposits and distributed ledger technology to contribute to more efficient and transparent cross-border payments and liquidity management over time. Through our participation in this initiative, we are focusing on piloting and evaluating practical use cases, while carefully considering how these innovations can be integrated into existing financial ecosystems in a safe, scalable, and client-centric manner.”
Mr Melvyn Low, Group Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at OCBC, said: “OCBC has been building our blockchain and tokenisation capabilities as part of a broader focus on strengthening our AI, Digital and Data expertise.
“We look forward to working with Swift and the partner banks to enable real-time, 24/7 cross-border tokenised transactions leveraging the Swift ledger, to better serve the payment needs of our customers.”
Mahesh Kini, Global Head of Cash Management at Standard Chartered, said: “We are redefining cross-border payments with Swift’s new blockchain-based ledger – combining tokenised deposits with our global network to deliver instant, always-on money movement.
“This will position our FI and Corporate clients at the forefront of payments innovation – unlocking real-time visibility, enhanced liquidity control, and the speed needed to stay ahead in managing capital globally.”
Mr. Andreas Kubli, Managing Director, Group Head of Digital Assets at UBS, said: “We see interoperability as the key enabler for scaling tokenised deposits beyond individual institutions.
“Swift’s ledger is an important industry initiative that can help connect digital money networks, supporting real-time settlement, greater liquidity mobility and the broader adoption of tokenised payments and digital assets across the global financial ecosystem.”
So Lay Hua, Head of Group Transaction Banking at UOB, said: “Swift’s blockchain-based ledger has moved from concept to live infrastructure, marking an important step towards practical adoption of new payment capabilities.
“For businesses, real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments can improve settlement speed, liquidity efficiency and cash flow visibility. UOB is among the first banks in this industry collaboration, bringing our regional network and transaction banking expertise to support secure, scalable and interoperable solutions that help businesses move value with greater confidence across borders.” #Swift Launches Blockchain Pilot for Tokenised Deposits with 17 Banks#
