OCBC has launched a tokenized deposit service that allows Ant International to move Singapore dollar and U.S. dollar liquidity between its entities in Singapore and Malaysia at any hour, with near-real-time settlement of treasury transactions.
According to OCBC's announcement, the service runs through Ant International's WhaleRTP platform, which the bank describes as a blockchain-based wholesale settlement platform supporting interoperability across blockchain assets from several financial institutions. Tokenized deposits are digital representations of commercial bank deposits recorded on a distributed ledger. OCBC says the ledger provides an immutable audit trail that reduces manual reconciliation, and it describes itself as the first bank to collaborate with Ant International on this type of solution.
The announcement does not name the blockchain used, identify which Ant International entities will use the service, or give transaction volumes, values or client counts. It also does not say whether any transactions have yet been processed. The release describes Ant International as an AI-native provider of payment, account, foreign exchange, treasury and growth solutions.
Carmen Chan, deputy head of global transaction banking at OCBC, said the launch shows "tokenisation is moving beyond experimentation to deliver tangible, real-world value for treasury and working capital management at scale." Kelvin Li, general manager of platform technology at Ant International, said the company hopes to help scale tokenization adoption with other institutions.
OCBC and Ant International announced a strategic partnership in November 2024 to improve cross-border fund settlement through tokenized deposits, according to a Business Wire release at the time.
OCBC's release points to other recent tokenization activity. In September, the bank completed what it described as Southeast Asia's first cross-border U.S. dollar tokenized deposit transaction on Swift's ledger with Citibank, along with domestic Singapore dollar tokenized deposit transactions with two other local banks. In April, OCBC, Lion Global Investors and DigiFT launched GOLDX, a tokenized physical gold fund on a public blockchain.