Swift completes multi-bank trial for tokenised bond settlement

By Vriti Gothi

Swift has completed a multi-bank digital asset interoperability trial that demonstrated the end-to-end settlement of tokenised bonds across blockchain platforms and traditional financial systems, underscoring its ambition to play a central role in the evolving digital finance ecosystem.

The trial, conducted with BNP Paribas Securities Services, Intesa Sanpaolo and Société Générale’s blockchain subsidiary SG-FORGE, enabled delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement of tokenised bonds while supporting payments in both fiat currency and stablecoins. It also covered key lifecycle events, including interest payments and bond redemption, involving roles such as paying agent, custodian and registrar.

According to Swift, this marks the first time it has shown the ability to orchestrate tokenised asset transactions as a single, coordinated process across distributed ledger technology (DLT) networks and existing financial market infrastructure. The initiative reflects growing industry efforts to reconcile rapid innovation in tokenisation with the operational realities of global capital markets.

Tokenisation is gaining momentum across asset classes, from bonds and equities to real estate and commodities. However, the proliferation of multiple blockchains and proprietary platforms has created what Swift describes as a fragmented environment, with liquidity and processes increasingly siloed across “digital islands”. This fragmentation is widely seen as a barrier to scale and institutional adoption.

Swift’s strategy is to position itself as a neutral interoperability layer, connecting established financial rails with emerging digital ecosystems. By leveraging widely adopted messaging standards such as ISO 20022 and ISO 15022, the organisation aims to allow financial institutions to transact across networks without having to manage the complexity of individual blockchains directly.

In the tokenised bond trial, SG-FORGE’s digital asset platform and its euro-denominated stablecoin, EURCV, were used to support DvP settlement in both fiat and digital currency. BNP Paribas Securities Services and Intesa Sanpaolo acted as paying agents and custodians, with settlement flows executed over Swift’s network. Swift said the results show that tokenised securities can be integrated into existing post-trade processes, potentially accelerating adoption by reducing operational and technology barriers.

The initiative builds on a series of recent pilots involving major financial institutions, including trials on linking tokenised assets with traditional payment systems, settling transactions between fiat and digital currencies, and enabling ISO 20022-based interoperability with blockchain networks.