Sibos 2026: Form3's Miriam Sheril and The Clearning House's Pat Antonacci on the future of OneLegOut

Quick Summary

Miriam Sheril of Form3 and Pat Antonacci of The Clearing House join FF News at Sibos 2026 to discuss the emergence of OneLegOut (OLO) and its role in modernising cross-border transactions. As domestic instant payment rails like RTP and FedNow mature, the industry is looking to bridge these systems to facilitate real-time global flows and meet G20 targets for speed and transparency.

What is OneLegOut and how does it improve cross-border efficiency?

Pat Antonacci explains that OneLegOut drives the transition from domestic instant payments to a cross-border environment. It facilitates the first or last leg of a transaction, allowing for real-time dollar settlement while leveraging the reliability and trust of existing rails. Miriam Sheril notes that while high-value payments will continue to use the SWIFT network, OLO is particularly effective for lower-value payments where friction is currently high. By removing this friction, the industry can drive global adoption of instant payments and provide a more seamless experience for end-users.

Why is 24/7 availability critical for modern correspondent banking?

Miriam Sheril highlights that the 24/7 aspect is the most critical component of OLO. Currently, cross-border payments often stall over weekends, leading to frustration and uncertainty for users. While OLO is not a single solution that removes all friction, it addresses significant pain points like the lack of weekend processing. Pat Antonacci adds that this allows for settlement with finality on a 24/7 basis, regardless of whether the value is moving into or out of the US. This capability is essential for meeting the demands of a global economy that does not stop for bank holidays or time zone differences.

What technological shifts are required to support these real-time flows?

The transition to real-time cross-border payments requires a departure from legacy infrastructure. Miriam Sheril argues that outdated software and operations are no longer sufficient for systems that must run constantly. Banks must adopt cloud computing, specifically multi-cloud strategies, and mandatory APIs to ensure resilience. Furthermore, the paradigm for compliance must change. Pat Antonacci points out that screening, which traditionally happened the next day for wire or ACH transfers, must now occur within the five-second window required by real-time networks. This real-time approach to global screening changes how banks must operate in the domestic space.

How will instant payment rails coexist with stablecoins and tokenised deposits?

Miriam Sheril suggests that while stablecoins and distributed ledgers are popular topics for solving cross-border issues, OLO provides a secondary avenue for risk-averse institutions to operate on traditional banking rails. Pat Antonacci notes that The Clearing House has already announced support for clearing and settling tokenised deposits using existing fiat rails. Ultimately, the experts believe that multiple rails will coexist, with the choice of rail being driven by specific business cases and customer needs. In the future, the specific rail used may become agnostic to the end-user, with intelligent routing handling the backend complexity.

FF NEWS TAKE:

The development of OneLegOut represents a pragmatic evolution of the global payments landscape. Rather than attempting to replace correspondent banking entirely, Form3's approach focuses on enhancing the existing infrastructure to meet international goals for speed and transparency. By turning the last leg of a transaction into an instant domestic flow, banks can offer a significantly improved user experience without the immediate need for a total overhaul of international settlement systems. This hybrid approach, combining the trust of traditional rails with the speed of modern technology, is likely to be the dominant model for the next decade of financial innovation.