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DBS Bank, Singapore’s largest bank by assets, has launched a pilot program for “DBS Treasury Tokens” in partnership with Ant International, with the aim of improving treasury management and liquidity through blockchain technology.

The pilot, running on DBS’s permissioned blockchain, will facilitate multi-currency treasury and liquidity management for Ant International entities across markets. This initiative aims to reduce the settlement time of intra-group transactions from days to seconds, thereby optimizing liquidity and working capital management.

EVM compatibility and the concept of the ‘permissioned chain’

DBS’s permissioned blockchain is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and integrates with the bank’s core payments engine, enhancing its extensibility and interoperability with various payment infrastructures in the industry. The blockchain is also integrated with Ant International’s treasury management platform, Whale, enabling seamless intragroup liquidity management.

Lim Soon Chong, Head of Global Transaction Services at DBS Bank, stressed the project’s relevance in addressing the changing needs of the financial sector as e-commerce and on-demand services become increasingly popular.

“DBS Treasury Tokens and our collaboration with Ant International demonstrate how enterprises can seize such opportunities with full confidence that their liquidity management capabilities can scale in parallel,” said Chong.

The bank sees its permissioned blockchain as a foundation for new efficiencies in traditional banking services, including programmable, fractional and atomic value transfer.

This treasury tokens project is the culmination of DBS Bank’s participation in Project Orchid and Project Guardian, initiatives led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to explore the benefits of tokenization. By leveraging blockchain technology alongside Ant International’s AI-powered Whale platform, DBS aims to improve the transparency and efficiency of money transfers between bank accounts, positioning itself as a leader in financial innovation in the region.

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