ANZ Tests Tokenised Deposits for Cross-Border Corporate Payments

ANZ has completed a live cross-border corporate treasury transaction using tokenised deposits and Swift’s blockchain-based ledger, in a test aimed at showing how digital money could move between banks without changing the customer experience.

ANZ Tests Tokenised Deposits for Corporate Payments

Working with BHP, Citi and Swift, the Australian bank processed US dollar payments between Melbourne and New York. BHP used its existing ANZ account and banking channel, while tokenised deposits and distributed ledger technology operated in the background.

The significance lies in that invisibility. Rather than asking corporates to adopt new wallets, accounts or payment interfaces, the transaction was designed to demonstrate how tokenised money could be integrated into established banking relationships.

Shared Ledger Targets Interoperability

ANZ said the transaction showed how Swift’s ledger can act as a connector between banks, allowing tokenised deposits issued by different institutions to interact through shared infrastructure.

That addresses one of the central challenges facing tokenised commercial bank money: interoperability.

Individual banks can issue tokenised deposits on their own systems, but their value for cross-border payments depends on those deposits being able to move between institutions, jurisdictions and technology environments.

ANZ is the first Australian bank to use Swift’s ledger.

Nigel Dobson, executive general manager for payments services at ANZ, said the test showed tokenised deposits could move across banks while remaining invisible to customers and potentially supporting more efficient liquidity management.

Always-On Payments Appeal to Global Corporates

For multinational companies, the attraction is straightforward.

BHP said the longer-term opportunity is the ability to move funds internationally without having to wait for banking systems in different time zones to open.

The pilot points towards a model in which corporate treasury teams could move liquidity around the clock, with greater certainty over when funds will arrive.

Citi said the transaction demonstrated the potential for shared ledger infrastructure to bridge traditional banking and emerging digital financial networks.

Tokenisation Moves Behind the Existing Banking Experience

Swift has increasingly positioned interoperability as central to its digital asset strategy.

The latest transaction suggests one possible route forward: rather than replacing established correspondent banking relationships, tokenised deposits could operate as a new settlement layer beneath them.

For banks, that could offer faster processing and improved liquidity efficiency without forcing corporate customers onto entirely new systems.

The key question is whether such arrangements can scale beyond individual demonstrations into multi-bank, multi-currency infrastructure.

If they can, tokenised deposits may gain traction not because customers actively choose to use them, but because they make existing cross-border banking faster, more continuous and more efficient behind the scenes.