BNP Paribas and HSBC have completed the first live corporate treasury payment using Swift‘s blockchain-based shared ledger, moving funds for Siemens from a euro account held with BNP Paribas in France to a sterling account held with HSBC in the UK, instructed through Siemens’ existing banking channels with no new accounts or wallets required. The main objective is to test whether Swift’s ledger, which launched in September 2025 and completed its design phase in March 2026, can coordinate tokenized-deposit payments across separate banking systems and currencies while preserving commercial bank money, following an earlier tokenized-deposit pilot between HSBC and Standard Chartered in August. Key players include Pierre Fersztand, BNP Paribas’ global head of cash management, payments, trade solutions, and factoring, who called it “a significant milestone in the evolution of cross-border payments,” and Lewis Sun, HSBC’s global head of digital currencies, who framed the transaction as “a major step forward for real-world, cross-bank digital settlement.” 

BNP Paribas and HSBC Complete First Corporate Treasury Transaction on Swift’s Blockchain Ledger