HSBC and Standard Chartered have executed the first live cross‑border bank‑to‑bank transaction using tokenised deposits on Swift’s blockchain‑based ledger. The banks described it as a milestone for 24/7 cross‑border payments using regulated deposits.
The transaction demonstrated bank‑to‑bank interoperability for tokenised deposits issued, transferred, recorded and settled through Swift’s digital ledger. It follows Swift’s July announcement that its blockchain‑based infrastructure was ready for initial use, with 17 banks across six continents preparing to pilot live tokenised‑deposit transactions aimed at improving liquidity efficiency and enabling round‑the‑clock payment availability.
HSBC and Standard Chartered exchanged payment messages over Swift’s ledger, with resulting obligations recorded as tokenised deposits on HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service and Standard Chartered’s tokenised‑deposit infrastructure. Swift’s ledger acted as an orchestration layer, matching and netting obligations before final settlement through existing systems. The banks said the test highlights the potential for cross‑border payments to support an increasingly 24/7 global economy.
Lewis Sun, head of digital currencies at HSBC, said the transaction was “a landmark moment for the promise of tokenised deposits”, adding that it showed how digital bank money could be interoperable across institutions “while maintaining the integrity and regulatory oversight of the existing financial ecosystem”.
He said tokenised‑deposit interoperability could help corporates solve “real‑world challenges, such as moving liquidity around the world, across financial institutions, increasing cash visibility and reducing the complexities sometimes associated with traditional cross‑border transactions”.
Mark Willis, head of emerging payments, transaction services and digital assets at Standard Chartered, said tokenised deposits were a key pillar of the bank’s digital‑assets strategy.
He said the live transaction marked “an important step towards more seamless, always‑on financial services”, adding that interoperable tokenised deposits would help clients manage treasury, unlock operational efficiencies and support real‑time liquidity management as institutional demand grows for faster and more efficient liquidity movement.
HSBC said its Tokenised Deposit Service is live in six markets — Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, the UK, the US and the UAE — and supports multiple currencies including CNH, HKD, SGD, EUR, GBP, USD and AED. Standard Chartered said its tokenised‑deposit capabilities sit within a broader digital‑assets and payments ecosystem spanning custody, tokenisation and stablecoin settlement across 55 markets.
The banks said the transaction forms part of wider industry work to use distributed ledger technology for real‑world payment flows at scale while preserving the role of regulated bank money.
