UBS and Ant bet on blockchain to break bottleneck in global treasury flows

Investment bank UBS has entered a strategic partnership with financial technology company Ant International to explore tokenized deposits for real-time cross-border payments and global liquidity management, marking a notable expansion of the Swiss bank’s blockchain-based digital cash platform.

The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Singapore, anchoring the deal in one of the most active hubs for institutional blockchain experimentation. The move positions tokenized bank money as a potential replacement for traditional treasury settlement rails, which are still defined by cut-offs, fragmentation and multicurrency delays.

Ant International, which oversees operations within the broader Alipay+ ecosystem, announced that it will utilize UBS Digital Cash to streamline internal treasury transfers across jurisdictions.

“We share a common belief in the potential of these technologies to transform cross-border payments and look forward to driving greater impact together through UBS’s global expertise and support,” said Kelvin Li, global manager of platform tech at Ant International.

Breaking a bottleneck in corporate treasury operations

The collaboration directly addresses one of the biggest bottlenecks in corporate treasury operations — intra-group transfers that depend on legacy banking rails. These are subject to limited operating hours and inconsistent settlement speed.

By tokenizing deposit liabilities on permissioned digital ledgers, institutions will be able to sync their liquidity across different subsidiaries in just minutes rather than days, a shift that global payment providers have struggled with.

UBS Digital Cash, which piloted with selected institutions in 2024, is positioned as bank-issued digital money for wholesale use cases.

“By combining our expertise in digital assets with Ant’s advanced blockchain technology, we are working together to deliver a real-time, multicurrency payment solution that sets standards for transparency and efficiency,” said Young Jin Yee, the country head for UBS Singapore.

The new partnership is one of the most concrete examples of a major payments infrastructure operation embracing tokenized deposits.

For Ant International, the integration would provide a programmable settlement layer that could support treasury operations across Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Related: Franklin Templeton brings tokenized USD money market fund to Hong Kong

Singapore’s emerging role in institutional tokenization

The partnership reinforces Singapore’s growing role in institutional blockchain initiatives.

In 2024, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) advanced asset tokenization with new frameworks, drawing up various projects like Project Guardian, which focuses on fund tokenization and Project Orchid, which developed use cases for a retail central bank digital currency.

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