(20 August 2026 – United Kingdom) Standard Chartered and HSBC have successfully executed bank-to-bank tokenised deposit interoperability through the first live cross-border transaction on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger.
The live transaction builds on Swift’s July 2026 announcement that its blockchain-based ledger was ready for initial use, with 17 banks across six continents preparing to pilot live transactions using tokenised deposits for 24/7 payment availability and better liquidity efficiency. Instead of requiring every bank adopt the same token, build bilateral connections with every counterparty or migrate immediately onto an entirely new settlement network, Swift can provide a common orchestration layer between different bank-issued digital-money platforms. The transaction operated across three layers:
- HSBC and Standard Chartered exchanged payment messages through Swift’s blockchain ledger
- The resulting obligations were recorded on HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service and Standard Chartered’s own tokenised-deposit infrastructure
- Swift’s ledger matched and netted those obligations before final settlement occurred through existing systems
“Tokenised deposits are a key pillar of Standard Chartered’s digital assets strategy which aims to build end-to-end solutions that enable our clients to transact, settle and manage tokenised liquidity and value across borders. We are pleased to partner with HSBC on executing the first live transaction on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger marking an important step towards more seamless, always-on financial services. As institutional demand grows for faster, more efficient ways to move liquidity and optimise working capital increase, interoperable tokenised deposits will play an increasingly important role in helping corporate and institutional clients manage treasury, unlock operational efficiencies and support real time liquidity management across markets. This transaction is part of a broader industry effort for distributed ledger technology to support real-world payment use cases at scale, while preserving the role of regulated bank money” stated Standard Chartered Head of Emerging Payments, Transaction Services and Digital Assets, Mark Willis.
“HSBC’s interoperability transaction with Standard Chartered via Swift is a landmark moment for the promise of tokenised deposits. It demonstrates how digital money issued by banks can be interoperable across institutions while maintaining the integrity and regulatory oversight of the existing financial ecosystem. Tokenised deposit interoperability underscores how we can bring together different infrastructures to benefit our clients. For corporates, this is about solving 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” commented HSBC head of Digital Currencies, Lewis Sun.
“I’m delighted to announce that at HSBC we have completed the first live tokenised deposit interoperability transaction on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger with Standard Chartered. This is a meaningful step towards making cross-border payments work better for the always-on global economy. This live transaction signals progress towards 24/7 cross-border payments with faster cash visibility, better liquidity efficiency, and the ability to move liquidity across institutions while keeping the governance and regulatory oversight clients expect from a regulated bank. We look forward to doing similar transactions with other leading banks in the coming days across geographies and currencies as part of our drive to make this a commercially available mainstream capability in how payments are moved across institutions” said HSBC Head of Global Payment Solutions, Manish Kohli.
“This builds on the momentum of our Tokenised Deposit Service (TDS) launched in 2025, now live in six markets (HK, SGP, LUX, UK, US and the UAE) and supporting multiple currencies including CNH, HKD, SGD, EUR, GBP, USD and AED. We’re excited by what this unlocks for corporate treasurers: real-time liquidity, reduced cross-border complexity, and payments that keep pace with global business. This is what ‘always on’ treasury starts to look like.”