Swift Opens Blockchain Ledger for 24/7 Bank Payments

Ledger moves from concept to live-use readiness

Swift built the ledger in nine months after announcing the shared-ledger platform in October 2025. The plan was first shown at Swift’s annual Sibos event, and the initial use case is 24/7 cross-border payments.

Swift’s ledger is built to record, sort and check each payment in real time, with smart contracts enforcing rules on every transfer. The system is intended to support regulated digital money and tokenized assets across multiple blockchains while working alongside current payment rails.

Thierry Chilosi, Swift’s Chief Business Officer, said the ledger extends “the trust and stability of established finance” into digital money while preserving the resiliency, security and compliance standards required by global finance. Chilosi also said bank support demonstrates the practical value of the approach and creates a foundation for programmable money and agentic commerce.

The project is framed as infrastructure for regulated digital assets rather than a replacement for the banking system. The ledger’s design gives banks a way to improve client experience and liquidity efficiency without compromising compliance, credit, risk and control standards already embedded in payment processing.

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Banks line up for tokenized deposit pilots

The participating banks listed for the initial live-transaction pilots are ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, DBS, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), FirstRand Bank Limited, HSBC, Itaú Unibanco, Lloyds Bank, Mashreq, MUFG Bank, OCBC, Standard Chartered, UBS, UOB and Wells Fargo.

The bank roster gives the project a global footprint across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The files also highlighted UBS, BNP Paribas, Citi, Wells Fargo, HSBC, DBS, MUFG, Mashreq and First Abu Dhabi Bank as part of the group preparing to test the shared ledger.

Several of the participating banks already have tokenization experience. HSBC is highlighted as already allowing clients to send funds abroad 24/7 on-chain, but each bank’s existing token rail has largely operated as its own island. Swift’s shared ledger is intended to connect those islands into one interoperable network.

ANZ’s Lisa Vasic, Managing Director Transaction Banking, said the digital ledger initiative is an important step toward real-time, always-on cross-border payments and could help customers move funds in real time while managing liquidity more flexibly.

BNP Paribas’ Pierre Fersztand, Global Head of Cash Management, Payments, Trade Solutions and Factoring for the BNP Paribas Group, described the pilot as a significant milestone in cross-border payments and said BNP Paribas wants measurable corporate-client value through faster, more transparent and more secure transactions.

BNY’s Carl Slabicki, Head of Commercial, Global Payments & Trade, said the collaboration helps explore how shared-ledger capabilities can evolve while complementing existing infrastructure and serving global client needs.

Citi’s Debopama Sen, Head of Payments, Services, said the ledger marks an important step toward always-on payments and liquidity, and said collaboration reinforces Citi’s commitment to making cross-border money movement seamless and instant for clients.

DBS’ Lim Soon Chong, Group Head of Global Transaction Services (GTS), said blockchain-based ledgers and tokenized money can give banks greater speed, transparency and real-time liquidity, while stressing that interoperability with existing payment rails and real-world use cases will be critical for scale.

HSBC’s Manish Kohli, Head of Global Payments Solutions, said HSBC is scaling tokenized deposits across multiple markets and is connecting its Tokenised Deposit Service to Swift’s new ledger infrastructure, building on existing 24/7 compliant tokenized-deposit capabilities. Kohli also framed the goal as making cross-border payments work in real time, across time zones and without artificial cut-offs.

Lloyds Banking Group’s Kim Verhaaf, Managing Director for Payments, said the project marks progress in on-chain ecosystems and reflects the value of industry collaboration in advancing digital finance.

Mashreq’s Joel Van Dusen, Group Head of Corporate and Investment Banking, said using next-generation ledger technologies with Swift can enable faster settlement and improve transaction-processing security for clients.

MUFG Bank’s Masahiro Matsumoto, Senior Fellow, Global Head of Transaction Banking, said tokenized deposits and distributed ledger technology could improve cross-border payments and liquidity management over time, while stressing safe, scalable and client-centric integration into existing financial ecosystems.

OCBC’s Mr Melvyn Low, Group Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, said OCBC has been building blockchain and tokenization capabilities as part of a broader AI, digital and data strategy, and expects the Swift ledger to support real-time, 24/7 cross-border tokenized transactions.

Standard Chartered’s Mahesh Kini, Global Head of Cash Management, said the ledger combines tokenized deposits with the bank’s global network to deliver instant, always-on money movement, positioning financial-institution and corporate clients at the front of payments innovation.

UBS’ Mr. Andreas Kubli, Managing Director, Group Head of Digital Assets, said interoperability is the key enabler for scaling tokenized deposits beyond individual institutions and said Swift’s ledger can help connect digital-money networks.

UOB’s So Lay Hua, Head of Group Transaction Banking, said the ledger has moved from concept to live infrastructure and that real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments can improve settlement speed, liquidity efficiency and cash-flow visibility for businesses.

Payments scale and policy targets shape the rollout

Swift says its broader network connects more than 11,500 banking and securities organizations, market infrastructures and corporate customers across more than 200 countries and territories. Swift also says its infrastructure is trusted to move the equivalent of world GDP every two to three days across more than 200 markets.

Swift said 75% of payments on its network reach beneficiary banks within 10 minutes, often in seconds, meaning the network’s middle mile is already fast. The remaining issue is the final stretch through local banking systems.

The G20 wants 75% of cross-border payments cleared within one hour by 2027, while only about one-third clear that quickly today. Swift is also implementing a retail payments framework focused on upfront fee transparency, full-value delivery and a faster, more consistent consumer experience.

The competitive backdrop is stablecoins, which already allow transfers outside banking hours. Banks argue that tokenized deposits can give them stablecoin-style speed while keeping settlement anchored inside regulated bank infrastructure.

Swift’s model is not a bank-issued stablecoin launch. It is closer to a framework in which banks tokenize existing deposit money and use a shared ledger to coordinate movement across institutions.

The strongest business case is for large corporates and treasury teams managing cash across jurisdictions. Always-on tokenized deposits could let corporates shift cash when needed, improving cash-flow visibility, liquidity mobility, settlement speed and global working-capital control.

Swift plans to widen ledger features after the first phase, with the rollout staying staged. The files do not disclose transaction volumes, pilot duration, currencies, blockchain networks used in the live pilot, commercial pricing, exact settlement jurisdictions or a full production-launch date.