DBS Bank has launched a pilot for DBS Treasury Tokens in collaboration with Ant International, aimed at enhancing corporate liquidity management.

Utilizing DBS' permissioned blockchain, the pilot enhances multi-currency treasury and liquidity management for Ant International across various markets.

The DBS Treasury Tokens are specifically designed to allow Ant International to manage liquidity seamlessly across multiple currencies.

This initiative aims to expedite the settlement of intra-group transactions from potentially days to mere seconds, significantly improving liquidity and working capital management.

According to Kelvin Li from Ant International, this collaboration addresses challenges related to cross-border payments, effectively reducing costs and transaction risks.

Ant International's treasury management platform, Whale, has been integrated with the blockchain to optimize intragroup liquidity management.

In addition to blockchain, Ant's Whale platform employs artificial intelligence and encryption to enhance fund transfer transparency and efficiency.

Lim Soon Chong, DBS's group head of global transaction services, noted that the project addresses the evolving treasury needs of businesses in the context of e-commerce and on-demand services.

DBS aims to leverage blockchain technology to enhance traditional banking services, including programmable and fractionalized value transfers.

The DBS permissioned blockchain is compatible with Ethereum's virtual machine (EVM) and is integrated with the bank’s core payments system, improving interoperability.

The development of DBS Treasury Tokens is part of the bank's involvement in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Orchid and Project Guardian, which explore tokenization benefits.

The tokens can potentially reduce intra-group transaction settlement times from days to seconds, benefiting large corporations operating in multiple markets.