OCBC, Ant International Launch Tokenized Deposit Solution
Singapore-based OCBC said Tuesday it has become the first bank to collaborate with Ant International on a tokenized deposit solution designed to enable 24/7 treasury management and liquidity transfers between Singapore and Malaysia.
The solution, delivered through Ant International’s WhaleRTP blockchain-based wholesale settlement platform, will allow Ant International and its businesses to move intra-group liquidity across borders more quickly and manage working capital more efficiently, the companies said.
Initially, the system will support Singapore dollar- and U.S. dollar-denominated tokenized deposits on a round-the-clock basis, enabling near-real-time settlement of treasury transactions between Ant International entities.
Tokenized deposits are digital representations of commercial bank deposits recorded on a distributed ledger. Unlike conventional cross-border liquidity transfers, which can be subject to banking hours, batch-processing schedules and currency or settlement cutoffs, tokenized deposits can allow companies to move liquidity outside traditional banking windows.
OCBC said its blockchain capabilities underpin the solution, while WhaleRTP provides the treasury infrastructure and interoperability across blockchain-based assets issued by financial institutions.
Financial Institutions Explore Blockchain-Based Payments
The launch comes as banks and financial institutions increasingly explore blockchain-based payments and settlement systems as a way to make corporate treasury operations faster and more transparent.
“By combining OCBC's blockchain capabilities and transaction banking expertise with Ant International's Whale platform, we are enabling businesses to manage liquidity with greater speed, visibility and efficiency,” Carmen Chan, deputy head of global transaction banking at OCBC, said in a statement.
Chan added that the development shows tokenization is moving from experimentation toward practical applications in treasury and working capital management.
Kelvin Li, general manager of platform technology and senior vice president at Ant International, said the partnership would help the company provide near-real-time liquidity across its ecosystem.
“We hope to contribute to the scalable adoption of tokenization and build a more connected and efficient financial ecosystem for the future,” Li said. The initiative adds to OCBC’s recent work in blockchain and digital assets.
Collaboration With Citibank
In September, OCBC said it completed Southeast Asia’s first cross-border tokenized deposit transaction in U.S. dollars on Swift’s ledger in collaboration with Citibank. The bank also said it and two other Singapore banks completed domestic Singapore dollar tokenized deposit transactions on Swift’s ledger that month.
Earlier in April, OCBC, its asset-management arm Lion Global Investors and digital-asset exchange DigiFT launched the OCBC-LionGlobal Physical Gold Fund Token, or GOLDX, which the companies described as Southeast Asia’s first tokenized physical gold fund available on a public blockchain.
The latest initiative expands the use of tokenized deposits from individual settlement transactions toward ongoing corporate treasury and liquidity management across markets.
