EY has warned that Australian banks are at risk of falling behind global competitors as tokenisation moves rapidly from pilot projects to commercial deployment.
In a new analysis, EY Oceania Banking and Capital Markets Leader Tim Dring said tokenisation is already reshaping how assets are issued, traded and settled, with major international institutions building the infrastructure needed to support digital custody, wallets and automated settlement.
Dring said tokenisation is beginning to “unlock new forms of financial utility”, including fractional ownership, programmability and faster value exchange. He argues that these developments will require banks to rethink how they store, manage and account for assets as customers shift towards digital‑native financial services.
EY notes that global players such as JP Morgan and BNY Mellon have already launched tokenisation platforms, while Australian banks remain cautious. Dring said waiting for full regulatory certainty could leave domestic institutions exposed as international competitors expand their digital‑asset offerings.
The report links tokenisation to broader changes in financial infrastructure, including the convergence of digital‑asset rails with emerging AI‑driven automation. EY said wallets are likely to become a primary customer interface, holding fiat, tokenised assets and other digital instruments in a unified environment.
With the Australian Government’s proposed regulatory framework for digital‑asset platforms providing greater clarity, EY argues that banks should now prioritise capability development across custody, stablecoins, tokenised deposits and digital‑asset risk management.
Dring said early movers will be best positioned to shape market standards and capture new revenue streams as tokenised finance becomes embedded in global capital markets.
