Ant International partners Standard Chartered, OCBC for blockchain settlement

Today Ant International made two Singapore announcements about its blockchain-based Whale platform for international treasury management. Standard Chartered integrated with Whale to provide instant and 24/7 liquidity in Singapore dollars. Plus, Ant signed a deal with OCBC bank to enable 24/7 real-time payments between Singapore and Malaysia.

Ant has two goals with the Whale platform. The first is to support its own intragroup treasury needs to move money around the world instantly and 24/7. One of its subsidiaries is Alipay+ which both provides direct merchant services across the globe. Plus, it links numerous payment apps, especially those in Asia. Hence, if someone from Malaysia pays a Singapore merchant, Alipay has to ensure the merchant receives the money across borders.

But Ant isn’t the only corporate that needs to move money around the world. Large enterprises with subsidiaries spread globally want to make sure the money is in the right place at the right time, to minimize credit charges and optimize interest income. Hence, while Ant is perfecting the Whale solution for internal use, it is also offering it as a solution to other companies.

The Standard Chartered integration will help this intragroup functionality.

“Blockchain technology is revolutionising treasury management and we are pleased to be early adopters of its use cases to enable our clients to take advantage of its extensive benefits” said Mahesh Kini, Global Head of Cash Management at Standard Chartered.

“We continue to invest in our platforms and upgrade to enable seamless interoperability and compatibility to support our clients in achieving instant access, visibility, and control of their liquidity and working capital. Our collaboration with Ant International brings us ever closer to our goal of providing real time, 24/7, transparent and secure liquidity flows for our clients.”

Previously, as part of the Hong Kong Project Ensemble trials for wholesale CBDC and tokenization, Ant Whale conducted test transactions with Standard Chartered and HSBC.

And soon Ant will integrate with OCBC.

Ant and OCBC’s blockchain collaboration

“In this collaboration with Ant International, we will leverage our joint blockchain capabilities to enable faster, seamless multi-currency clearing and settlement for Ant International’s intra-group treasury and liquidity management,” said Melvyn Low, Head of Global Transaction Banking, OCBC.

Ant’s Whale platform has integrated with several other banks including HSBC for the Project Ensemble trials, JP Morgan’s JPM Coin Systems (rebranded to Kinexys Digital Payments), DBS Treasury Tokens and BNP Paribas.

“By partnering with one of the leading banks in Asia, we hope to combine OCBC’s deep knowledge of the Singapore and Malaysia markets, with Ant International’s technological expertise and innovations in blockchain, to develop more effective global treasury management solutions for businesses in Asia and beyond so they can trade and transact across borders more seamlessly.”

Meanwhile, the use of blockchain for cross border payments is explored in our report on bank stablecoins, tokenized deposits and DLT payments.