Summary
The 17 banks participating in SWIFT's shared ledger pilot include: UBS, BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, HSBC, Wells Fargo, Standard Chartered, ANZ, First Abu Dhabi Bank, FirstRand Bank (South Africa), Itau Unibanco (Brazil), Lloyds Bank, Mashreq (Dubai), MUFG Bank, DBS, OCBC, and United Overseas Bank (Singapore). The ledger is built on an EVM-compatible architecture using Hyperledger Besu on open-source foundations. SWIFT operates the ledger as an orchestration layer; banks operate their own environments and retain full authority over keys, assets, and settlement. Final settlement uses existing RTGS systems. The MVP moved from design to live operations in approximately 9 months.
Key Points
- 17 banks across 6 continents: UBS, BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, HSBC, Wells Fargo, Standard Chartered, ANZ, First Abu Dhabi, FirstRand, Itau, Lloyds, Mashreq, MUFG, DBS, OCBC, UOB
- Technical architecture: EVM-compatible, Hyperledger Besu, open-source
- SWIFT operates ledger as orchestration layer; banks retain key/asset authority
- Final settlement: existing RTGS systems
- Timeline: design announced September 2025, MVP March 2026, live operations July 2026
- Real transactions targeted: H2 2026
- 75% of SWIFT payments already reach beneficiaries within 10 minutes