DBS and Citi complete weekend tokenised deposit payment via Swift Ledger

Singapore’s DBS has conducted a cross-bank tokenised deposit transaction with Citi over a weekend using the Swift Ledger, bringing the total number of banks transacting on the platform to seven. The payment was denominated in USD, and DBS highlighted the ability for corporate treasurers to move tokenised deposits around the world at any hour as a core use case, alongside e-commerce and digital business applications.

The Swift Ledger does not directly process payments; it orchestrates communication of instructions and commitments between participating banks, netting obligations that are subsequently settled through conventional channels. DBS Token Services, the underlying tokenised deposit product, has been operational for nearly two years, though it currently serves only DBS’s own clients for intrabank purposes. The Swift Ledger effectively extends its reach by enabling interoperability across different bank ledgers without requiring direct integration between each pair.

The pace of onboarding is notable. Citi completed its first Swift Ledger transactions last week with First Abu Dhabi Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, following earlier transactions between Standard Chartered and HSBC, and between HSBC and UOB. The pilot, which launched roughly two months ago, is expected to grow to 17 participating banks before it closes at year end. Beyond payments, Swift has flagged that the Ledger’s interoperability goals extend to securities, suggesting the infrastructure ambition is broader than the current transaction use cases imply.