Standard Chartered launches tokenised deposits for corporate clients in Hong Kong
Enabling seamless, around-the-clock digital treasury and investment workflows for corporate clients across intragroup and cross-bank transactions through HKMA’s EnsembleTX infrastructure
Standard Chartered today announced the launch of its Tokenised Deposits solution in Hong Kong, making it the first market in the Group to offer the solution to corporate clients. “Leveraging the benefits of tokenisation and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)’s EnsembleTX infrastructure, the solution enables corporate treasurers, banks, investment platforms and digital asset businesses to enhance efficiency of their treasury, liquidity and operational activities. The Bank plans to expand the solution to more markets over time.” – according to the press release.
Built on Standard Chartered’s proprietary blockchain infrastructure, the solution combines the trust of regulated bank deposits with the programmability and capabilities of tokenised assets, enabling eligible clients to utilise commercial bank deposits within digital treasury and investment workflows, including intragroup liquidity management.
“Developed with support from the HKMA’s Supervisory Incubator for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and powered by EnsembleTX infrastructure, the solution enables tokenised deposits to be transferred in real time across participating banks, with inter-bank settlement of tokenised deposits transactions in central bank money, including wholesale central bank digital currency (“wCBDC”), on a 24/7 basis. The solution enhances efficiency, interoperability and settlement predictability, while significantly reducing counterparty risk as value moves between financial institutions.” – the bank explained.
The launch further strengthens the Bank’s digital asset proposition and contributes to the development of the tokenised assets ecosystem in Hong Kong. The solution is already gaining traction with China AMC, Finloop and PantherTrade executing live tokenised deposit transactions and settlement of tokenised money market funds powered by the HKMA EnsembleTX.
In addition, the bank is partnering with Fireblocks to embed banking capabilities in the platform and provide native access to the digital asset client ecosystem. Hashkey also joins the ecosystem further expanding the reach of the solution. Together, these companies are exploring how tokenised deposits can enhance institutional treasury management and improve connectivity across investment and capital markets activities. As adoption accelerates and use cases continue to evolve, tokenised deposits are expected to unlock broader benefits for the real economy and drive greater innovation across financial markets.
Mary Huen, CEO, Hong Kong and Greater China & North Asia, Standard Chartered, said: “We welcome the latest initiatives announced by HKMA at Hong Kong FinTech Week under the ‘DART’ framework. 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. Building on this foundation, we are proud to launch our Tokenised Deposits in Hong Kong, the first in our global network. This underscores Hong Kong’s position as a leading digital asset hub and reinforces our commitment to innovation and supporting our clients’ evolving treasury, liquidity and digital asset needs across borders.”
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. By working across the ecosystem, we are addressing real client needs and playing our part in taking tokenisation from experimentation towards broader scalable adoption.”
