Swift teams up with banks to build blockchain ledger

The network said it is working with financial institutions from 16 countries to design the system, starting with a conceptual prototype developed with Consensys

Swift is teaming up with more than 30 banks to build a blockchain ledger aimed at turning cross-border payments into a real-time, always-on service.

The network said it is working with financial institutions from 16 countries to design the system, starting with a conceptual prototype developed with Consensys.

Swift plans to complete this first phase quickly and define later phases once the proof of concept is complete.

The shared ledger will record, sequence and validate transactions using smart contracts and will be built for interoperability with both established and emerging networks.

It is intended to let banks move regulated tokenised value securely and at scale, while commercial and central banks decide which tokenised assets will flow across it.

Participating banks include 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 and Westpac.

The initiative was announced at the Sibos conference in Frankfurt as part of Swift’s broader strategy to upgrade its current payment rails while developing future digital infrastructure.

Swift CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso said: 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.

He added: 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.