UK Banks Test Tokenized Deposits in Remortgages and Payments

Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest and Barclays have completed two remortgage transactions using tokenized sterling deposits, while a separate group of banks tested a simulated marketplace payment, UK Finance said. The trials moved digital representations of bank deposits between institutions over shared infrastructure, testing their use in customer transactions. In the remortgage transactions, funds were held and released automatically when the property transactions completed, according to UK Finance. The marketplace test used programmable deposits to reserve a buyer’s funds until delivery was confirmed. No real goods changed hands, so the test demonstrated a conditional payment process rather than a completed consumer purchase. The transactions were conducted as part of the Great British Tokenised Deposit initiative, convened by UK Finance. Its participants are Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander. The shared platform was developed by Quant. The remortgage transactions involved Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest and Barclays; UK Finance said the separate marketplace test involved three banks, including HSBC.