HSBC, Swift & Ant International Just Moved Tokenized Deposits via ISO 20022—Here’s Why It’s a Game Changer

Traditional finance giants just took a giant leap into the blockchain era. HSBC, Swift, and Ant International have successfully piloted the movement of tokenized deposits using the ISO 20022 messaging standard—a move that could reshape global payments.

The New Plumbing of Global Finance

Forget the clunky, slow systems of old. This trial connects traditional banking rails directly with blockchain-based digital assets. It bypasses decades of legacy infrastructure, allowing value to move as seamlessly as data. The ISO 20022 standard acts as the universal translator, making sure the old world and the new can actually talk to each other.

Why This Isn't Just Another Pilot

This isn't a sandbox experiment. It's a direct shot across the bow of the fragmented, fee-laden correspondent banking network. By using a common standard, they're building a highway for institutional capital to flow into tokenized markets—without needing to reinvent the wheel for every single bank.

The Cynic's Corner

Of course, watching banks finally adopt the interoperability that crypto has offered for years does bring a wry smile. It only took the threat of irrelevance and trillions in potential market share to get them moving.

The message is clear: the race to tokenize real-world assets is on, and the old guard is now building the on-ramps. The era of digital finance isn't coming—it's being wired directly into the system, one ISO 20022 message at a time.

Ant International, HSBC test cross-border tokenized settlements

At the Core of the initiative was the integration of Ant International’s in-house blockchain infrastructure with Swift’s messaging network ISO 20022. The connection helped the financial firm to conduct real-time treasury management through HSBC Singapore and Hong Kong using HSBC’s Tokenized Deposit Service.

HSBC converts traditional bank deposits into digital tokens on a one-to-one basis under the service, with each token representing a unit of fiat currency. The tokens can then be transferred instantly between participating HSBC locations, which are operational 24 hours a day.

The introduction of a common protocol, co-built by Ant International, HSBC, and Swift, could simplify how large multinational companies interact with banks’ tokenized deposit services. Ant International WOULD be able to access tokenized services through a standardized framework instead of setting up individual bilateral agreements with each banking partner.

ISO 20022 to modernize cross-border payments

The ISO 20022 messaging standard has been around since 2004, although most financial institutions had not yet adopted the more structured payment data until the early 2020s. According to a Financial Stability Board progress report released in early October, these payments have only improved marginally over the past two years in countries within the Geneva-based intergovernmental forum Group of 20 (G20). 

Ant International and HSBC’s proof of concept could help solve the structural problems by reducing intermediaries and enabling near-instant settlement. The ISO 20022 solution also extends HSBC’s tokenized deposit service compliance framework, which includes anti-money laundering systems and sanctions screening.

“We are excited to demonstrate how ISO 20022 data formats, when combined with new technologies like blockchain, bring significant value to the entire community. We are committed to shaping a future of seamless global interoperability, powered by ISO 20022’s structured data with financial institutions’ need for trust, efficiency, and regulatory consistency.”

Shirish Wadvikar, Global Head, Payments and Cash Management at Swift

HSBC’s head of domestic and emerging payments, Lewis Sun, said ISO 20022 has created a more connected digital money ecosystem for the banking institutions’ clients. 

“We are giving our corporate clients more choice in how they manage liquidity globally; with the familiarity of traditional banking and the benefits of next-generation digital infrastructure,” SUN told reporters in a press briefing.

General Manager of Platform Tech at Ant International, Kelvin Li, doubled down on HSBC’s sentiments for the proof of concept, saying he believes the collaboration “can guide the standardization of tokenized deposits under ISO 20022.” 

“We will continue to enable interoperability in global money movement together with our partners, so businesses can access more transparent, secure, and efficient cross-border payments,” Li concluded.

Ant International wins NIPS AI security award

Away from news of its payment infrastructure, Ant International took first place at the NeurIPS Competition of Fairness in AI Face Detection, held in early December at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems in the San Diego Convention Center, California.

The competition saw participants develop AI models capable of detecting AI-generated face images from several demographic groups fairly split by gender, age, and skin tone. Ant International ranked first among more than 2,100 submissions from 162 teams worldwide after achieving a 99.8% detection rate.

“A biased AI is an insecure AI,” said Dr. Tianyi Zhang, General Manager of Risk Management and Cybersecurity at Ant International. “Our model’s fairness prevents exploitation from deepfakes and provides reliable identity verification for all users, supporting our mission to deliver secure and inclusive financial services worldwide.”

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