Standard Chartered is bringing round-the-clock tokenised deposit transfers to corporate clients in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is the first market in the bank’s global network to offer the service.
It allows eligible businesses to use tokenised commercial bank deposits for treasury and investment transactions, including intragroup liquidity management.
The service runs on Standard Chartered’s blockchain infrastructure.
It uses the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) EnsembleTX platform to enable real-time transfers between participating banks.
Interbank tokenised deposit transactions can be settled in central bank money, including wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC), on a 24/7 basis.
The arrangement is designed to improve settlement predictability and reduce counterparty risk.
China AMC, Finloop and PantherTrade have already participated in live tokenised deposit transactions and the settlement of tokenised money market funds through EnsembleTX.
Standard Chartered is also working with Fireblocks to embed banking capabilities into its platform.
The partnership aims to give digital asset clients direct access to these services, while HashKey has also joined the ecosystem.
The bank developed the service with support from the HKMA’s Supervisory Incubator for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).
Mary Huen, CEO, Hong Kong and Greater China & North Asia, Standard Chartered, said,
“Standard Chartered has been a major participant in the HKMA’s EnsembleTX, contributing to its development and some of its earliest real-value transaction use cases.
This has given us first-hand experience of how tokenisation can enhance efficiency, transparency and interoperability across financial markets.”
Ole Matthiessen, Global Head of Transaction Services & Digital Assets, Standard Chartered, said,
“The value of tokenised deposits lies in their ability to help clients move and manage liquidity more efficiently across institutions and markets.
This launch brings digital money into practical treasury and investment workflows, supported by the trust and controls of the banking system.”
Standard Chartered plans to expand the service to other markets over time.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Hong Kong, based on image by toia
via Magnific
