Hong Kong bank pilot opens 24/7 cash settlement for tokenized fund deals

Hong Kong's tokenization pilot now lets participating banks settle tokenized deposit transactions around the clock in central bank money, extending the cash settlement behind corporate treasury and tokenized-fund activity beyond conventional operating hours.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the upgrade on Nov. 2. EnsembleTX, the pilot phase of Project Ensemble, now has 12 participating banks and 20 industry pioneers.

The customer deposits and the settlement money have different roles. Participating firms use tokenized deposits supplied by commercial banks; tokenized central bank money settles the transactions between banks. The upgrade extends the hours available for that interbank cash settlement.

Participating industry pioneers have already used bank-provided tokenized deposits for corporate treasury management and tokenized money market fund transactions. HKMA names Ant International, BlackRock and China Asset Management (Hong Kong) among the firms involved.

Banks providing tokenized deposits for the cited activity include Bank of China (Hong Kong), China Construction Bank (Asia), ICBC (Asia), Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) and HSBC. These are examples given by HKMA, rather than the full roster of 12 participating banks.

For a corporate treasury using the pilot, the practical change is that its participating bank can settle the relevant transactions outside conventional operating hours. Tokenized-fund users gain extended cash-settlement availability where their banks and platforms support the activity.

Securities and Futures Commission Chief Executive Julia Leung said the capability supports round-the-clock corporate treasury transactions and secondary trading of tokenized funds on licensed platforms. Availability for an individual fund still depends on the bank and platform arrangements; continuous interbank settlement does not establish continuous trading for every fund.