DBS and Citi Complete Weekend USD Cross-Border Payment via Swift Digital Ledger

DBS and Citi's New York office completed a USD cross-border payment between Singapore and the U.S. on September 5 via the Swift Digital Ledger using tokenized deposits. The transaction was executed on a weekend and took only minutes, while traditional cross-border payments typically take up to two business days, eliminating losses caused by time zone and weekend gaps for corporates.

This is the second real-time application confirmed on the ledger, following the first tokenized deposit cross-border transaction completed by HSBC and Standard Chartered in August. Swift announced on July 9 that the ledger was available for initial use, with 17 banks preparing to participate, and DBS being the only Asia-based bank among the 12 core design partners.

DBS Group Chief Operating Officer Rachel Chew stated that the Swift Digital Ledger is connecting traditional banking infrastructure with emerging digital networks to move tokenized currency from experimentation to real-world application. Mridula Iyer, Head of Services for Citi Asia South, said the weekend real-time transaction proves that 24/7 cross-border payments have become a reality. DBS launched DBS Token Services in 2024, offering 24/7 programmable instant value transfer services.