Swift to Add Blockchain-Based Ledger to Its Infrastructure Stack in Groundbreaking Move to Accelerate and Scale Benefits of Digital Finance Across More Than 200 Countries and Territories Worldwide

Swift today announces that it will add a blockchain-based shared ledger to its technology infrastructure, a pivotal step for global finance that promises to make instant, always-on cross-border transactions possible at unprecedented scale.

Swift already has kicked off work with a group of more than 30 financial institutions globally to design and build the ledger, focused on a first use case of real-time 24/7 cross-border payments and starting with a conceptual prototype by Consensys. Swift will work at pace to complete the prototype in phase one and define its future phases of work.

The ledger will extend Swift’s financial communication role into a digital environment, facilitating banks’ trusted and scalable movement of regulated tokenised value across digital ecosystems. Swift’s focus is on the infrastructure – the types of tokens that will be exchanged on the ledger is the territory of commercial and central banks and Swift will work with them on how to complement and make use of this new infrastructure.

It is envisaged that the ledger — a secure, real-time log of transactions between financial institutions — will record, sequence and validate transactions and enforce rules through smart contracts. It will be built for interoperability, both with existing and emerging networks, while maintaining the trust, resilience and compliance synonymous with Swift and critical to the secure functioning of global finance.

Announcing the ledger at Swift’s annual flagship Sibos conference in Frankfurt today, Swift CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso commented: “We provide powerful and effective rails today and are moving at a rapid pace with our community to create the infrastructure stack of the future. Through this initial ledger concept we are paving the way for financial institutions to take the payments experience to the next level with Swift’s proven and trusted platform at the centre of the industry’s digital transformation.”

Financial institutions from 16 countries are providing Swift feedback on the design of the ledger, and, following successful development and proof of concept, Swift will work with its global community on implementation. The group of banks working on the design includes:

Absa

Akbank

ANZ

Banco Santander

Bank of America

Banorte

BBVA

BNP Paribas

BNY

Bradesco

Citi

Commerzbank

Crédit Agricole

DBS Bank

Deutsche Bank

Emirates NBD

First Abu Dhabi Bank

FirstRand Bank

HSBC

Itaú Unibanco

JP Morgan Chase

Mizuho

MUFG

NatWest

OCBC

Royal Bank of Canada

Saudi Awwal Bank

Shinhan Bank

Societe Generale-FORGE

Standard Chartered

TD Bank Group

UOB

Wells Fargo

Westpac

The ledger is a natural extension of Swift’s progressive ecosystem innovation and live digital asset trials over the past two years. To ensure interoperability between DLT and existing fiat currency rails, Swift today also announced it will roll out client solutions to orchestrate between different systems, supporting both private and public networks to ensure efficient and synchronised transactions for various use cases.

These developments are part of Swift’s overall strategy to power a best-in-class payments experience however value moves, with parallel tracks of innovation to upgrade the experience over existing ‘fiat’ rails, as well as to ready the industry for digital finance. In an acceleration of this strategy, last week, Swift also announced the development of new scheme rules over existing rails to ensure a fast and predictable experience for consumers and small businesses sending money anywhere in the world.

Isabel Schmidt, Executive Platform Owner, Payments Enablement Platform at BNY, said: “At BNY, we are focused on the evolution of payments infrastructure to meet the demands of an always-on global economy. Swift’s work on a shared ledger represents an important step toward exploring how cross-border transactions can become faster, more transparent and more resilient. Recognizing the importance of these industry efforts helps ensure solutions that bring greater efficiency and choice for financial institutions and their clients worldwide.”

Lee McNabb, Head of Group Payment and Digital Asset Strategy at NatWest, said: “As digital assets continue to develop and mature at pace, Swift’s blockchain-based ledger provides the foundational infrastructure needed for trusted, real-time cross-border payments alongside existing ways of moving money. By partnering in this initiative, we are shaping solutions that allow our clients benefit from greater speed, transparency and crucially, flexibility in the digital age – without wavering on robust compliance and risk management.”

Michael Spiegel, Global Head of Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered said: ”This initiative will provide the infrastructure needed for the industry to further scale the development of blockchain-based solutions. We are pleased to play our part in supporting its success by sharing our knowledge and expertise in developing real time 24/7 cross-border payments and settlements solutions.”