ANZ has completed one of the world’s first live corporate treasury transactions using tokenised deposits and Swift’s ledger, working with its customer BHP, Swift and Citi. The bank announced the milestone on September 30, 2026, and said it is the first Australian bank to use Swift’s blockchain ledger.
The transaction involved US dollar payments between Melbourne and New York, and it was designed to keep friction low. BHP used its existing ANZ account and banking channel, while the tokenised deposits and digital ledger technology worked behind the scenes. ANZ said the payments showed how shared ledger technology could move cross border payments towards faster, seven days a week processing. It also confirmed that Swift’s ledger can act as a secure connector, letting tokenised deposits issued by different banks work together.
Nigel Dobson, ANZ’s Executive General Manager for Payments Services, said the aim was to see whether the benefits of new ledger technology could be delivered through the accounts, channels and processes that institutional customers already use, without customers noticing the difference.
“These payments demonstrate how tokenised deposits can move between banks through shared industry infrastructure and supporting more efficient liquidity while remaining completely invisible to customers. Many large, multi-national customers want to move money across countries, time zones and banks regardless of operating hours, and with the certainty it will arrive in near real-time. As the first Australian bank to use Swift’s ledger, our goal was to test how the benefits of new digital ledger technology can be delivered through the existing banking arrangements, using the accounts, channels and operational processes that our institutional customers already rely on. Over time, we believe these capabilities could help customers move and manage liquidity more efficiently across their global operations, while continuing to benefit from the trust, regulatory oversight and global reach of the banking system,” Dobson noted.
Tokenised deposits: What It Means
According to Marlon Singh, BHP’s Manager for Treasury, the attraction is moving funds across borders in real time instead of waiting for banking systems to open, while noting that the work is still at an early stage.
“The opportunity we see is the ability to move funds across borders in real time. Rather than waiting for banking systems to open, global businesses could eventually transact around the clock with greater certainty and efficiency. This pilot with ANZ and Swift gives us the opportunity to test whether emerging payments technology can help make that a reality. While still at an early stage, initiatives like this have the potential to simplify liquidity management and make it easier for us to move capital when and where it is needed,” Singh said.
Citi and Swift also welcomed the result. Kanika Thakur, Citi’s Head of Services for Japan, Asia North and Australia, said it shows how a shared blockchain ledger can link traditional and digital finance, while Suresh Rajalingam, Head of Oceania at Swift, said it shows how the ledger can support faster, more transparent and always on cross border payments.
For corporate treasurers, the appeal is that little changes on their side, with the same account and channel and the new technology working in the background. For ANZ, being the first Australian bank on Swift’s ledger gives it an early position, though the bank has not disclosed payment values or a timeline for wider availability.
Digital Trade Outlook: What stands out is how deliberately the pilot was kept invisible to the customer. BHP used its existing ANZ account and channel, which presents tokenised deposits as a back end upgrade rather than a new product for treasurers to adopt. Both ANZ and BHP frame the benefits as something that could come over time, so the next thing to watch is whether more corporate clients and banks join the same ledger.
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