Standard Chartered and Ant International have completed the first blockchain-based SGD-denominated liquidity transfers between its entities.
In this transaction, Standard Chartered plugged into Ant International’s Whale Platform to offer the liquidity necessary to conduct the deal, which is a significant step towards instant and 24/7 treasury management.
Ant International’s platform is a next-generation treasury management solution that utilizes blockchain technology innovation, including advanced encryption and artificial intelligence (AI), to improve the efficiency and transparency of fund movements between bank accounts for better global liquidity management.
Effective and efficient intra-group movement of liquidity for Ant International and its entities optimizes the group’s treasury and working capital management.
This is especially critical for global companies that frequently transact across borders, such as Ant International, and need instant and 24/7 liquidity management.
Through this innovative transaction workflow, Ant International also benefits from additional transparency and security for its funds’ movements within the group.
Seamless interoperability
“Blockchain technology is revolutionizing treasury management and we are pleased to be early adopters of its use cases to enable our clients to take advantage of its extensive benefits,” says Mahesh Kini, global head of cash management at Standard Chartered.
“We continue to invest in our platforms and upgrade to enable seamless interoperability and compatibility to support our clients in achieving instant access, visibility, and control of their liquidity and working capital. Our collaboration with Ant International brings us ever closer to our goal of providing real time, 24/7, transparent and secure liquidity flows for our clients.”
Kelvin Li, head of platform tech at Ant International, adds: "Following the successful blockchain test settlements that we have achieved with Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, we are delighted to expand our partnership to Singapore, the home of Ant International’s global headquarters. We hope to build on the momentum of our previous collaboration and continue developing new solutions to make global liquidity management even more seamless and secure for businesses around the world."
Standard Chartered recently announced the test settlement of a similar HKD-denominated transaction with Ant International.
Both Standard Chartered and Ant International are participants of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Ensemble Sandbox. Since May this year, the bank’s Hong Kong division has been participating in the project to jointly develop industry standards and assist in the design and implementation of the sandbox, which tests use cases for tokenization. Ant International is also a participant in the sandbox, developing two use cases using its Whale platform.
Project Ensemble is a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) project that seeks to explore innovative financial market infrastructure for seamless interbank settlement of tokenized money through wCBDC.
