(1 November 2023 – Hong Kong) HSBC has successfully tested the use of tokenised deposits in intra-group treasury transactions using blockchain technology provided by China's Ant group.
The initiative aims to explore the potential of deposit tokenisation in enabling always-on, real-time treasury fund movement between accounts held by a corporate within the HSBC network.
Conducted under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Fintech Supervisory Sandbox arrangement, the test encompassed the issuance, transfer, and redemption of deposit tokens.
During the test, HSBC was connected to the blockchain platform developed by Ant Group. It facilitates payments across global treasury centres, supporting major currencies including HKD, CNY, USD, GBP, and EUR.
Vincent Lau, global head of emerging payments, global payments solutions, HSBC, says: “The test exemplifies cutting-edge banking capabilities available in Hong Kong as a corporate treasury hub. At HSBC, we will continue to leverage tokenised deposit and other financial innovations to streamline and optimise treasury management for our clients.”
HSBC has previously participated in a number of successful CBDC pilots, including Project mBridge, which utilised CBDCs for cross-border wholesale transactions, as well as a cross-border CBDC payment orchestration pilot organised by Swift. Additionally, it has joined with other banks in exploring the feasibility of an interoperable digital money platform known as the regulated liability network in the US and UK.