FAB And Mashreq Join Swift Tokenised Deposit Payment Pilot
Unlock Blockchain reported that FAB and Mashreq are among 17 financial institutions preparing live Swift shared-ledger transactions for tokenised deposits, with transaction volumes, currency pairs and commercial timing still outside the public record.
Swift Moves Its Blockchain Ledger Into Production
Swift has launched the first production use case of its blockchain-based shared ledger, with 17 financial institutions across six continents preparing live transactions using tokenized deposits.
FAB and Mashreq are among the participating banks, which will pilot 24/7 cross-border payments while keeping existing compliance, risk-management and settlement infrastructure in place.
The deployment makes the ledger usable for regulated banking operations without requiring banks to replace the payment systems they already use.
Swift’s platform is designed as a coordination layer above existing payment rails, connecting bank-issued tokenized deposits across institutions while final settlement continues through established financial infrastructure.
Swift, which connects financial institutions across more than 200 markets, announced the ledger last year.
The current project is an operating pilot with regulated banks, not a completed commercial rollout.
Tokenized Deposits Run Through Existing Banking Infrastructure
Tokenized deposits are commercial-bank liabilities recorded on distributed ledger infrastructure.
Their structure distinguishes them from stablecoins, which are generally issued by private companies, and from private-issuer digital assets outside the banking system.
The model allows participating banks to coordinate tokenized bank money across institutions while supporting continuous cross-border payments, including overnight and weekend transactions.
Swift’s cited material says the approach is intended to improve liquidity management and client experience, while avoiding a new public blockchain network or a standalone private currency.
The launch adds to wider institutional work on tokenized money for wholesale financial markets, including initiatives involving the Bank for International Settlements and central banks.
The project’s stated purpose is to extend regulated banking infrastructure with distributed-ledger functionality rather than build a parallel crypto payment network.
The public material does not yet disclose transaction volumes, processing-time results, customer-level savings, fee models, currency pairs or participating corporate customers.
It also does not identify first live transaction dates or provide a timetable for a broader commercial launch.
FAB And Mashreq Join Global Banking Pilot
FAB and Mashreq place the UAE in a group that includes HSBC, Citi, BNP Paribas, UBS, Standard Chartered, DBS, ANZ, BNY Mellon and Wells Fargo.
Their participation connects the country’s existing role in virtual-asset regulation with a project focused on institutional settlement, bank-issued liabilities and regulated cross-border payment infrastructure.
The available material does not state whether UAE regulatory approval has been issued specifically for the pilot or whether any dirham-denominated tokenized deposits are included.
It does establish the operating boundary: the deposits remain commercial-bank liabilities, and compliance and settlement stay within regulated financial institutions.
Swift has therefore moved tokenized-deposit payments from an announced ledger design into live testing across six continents.
The pilot’s commercial scale and measured performance remain undisclosed, but the infrastructure is now being tested under the banking systems intended to support it.
