SCB becomes first bank client on Citi’s tokenised dollar clearing service

Siam Commercial Bank has become the first financial institution client globally to go live on Citi’s integrated 24/7 US dollar clearing and Citi Token Services offering, the banks announced. The arrangement is designed to support near real-time cross-border dollar payments at any hour for Citi’s corporate and institutional clients, including payments that fall outside conventional banking windows.

The launch extends Citi’s round-the-clock dollar clearing model by combining it with tokenised deposits on a private permissioned blockchain. According to Citi, the service operates within the regulated banking system and tokenises deposits held across Citi’s global network, rather than creating a public cryptocurrency instrument.

Citi said its 24/7 US dollar clearing service allows clients to send and receive dollar payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with near-instant settlement. The bank said the clearing network connects more than 300 financial institutions in over 50 markets. By integrating token services with that network, Citi said it can support payments between Citi and non-Citi accounts across jurisdictions.

First transaction crossed a US holiday weekend

The first completed transaction under the arrangement involved Phillip Securities Thailand, a subsidiary of PhillipCapital and a client of SCB, according to the announcement. Dollar funds were transferred from a Citi London account maintained by Phillip Capital Inc., another PhillipCapital subsidiary, to a beneficiary account at SCB in Thailand.

The transfer took place over a US holiday weekend, a timing that the banks presented as a demonstration of how companies and financial institutions can use the combined clearing and tokenisation service when traditional payment processing may be constrained by market holidays or operating hours.

For corporate treasurers, cross-border dollar payments often depend on correspondent banking relationships, cut-off times and settlement windows across multiple time zones. A 24/7 clearing service seeks to reduce those timing constraints by allowing payment instructions and settlement to occur continuously, while tokenised deposits can be used as a digital representation of bank money on Citi’s permissioned infrastructure.

Thanawatn Kittisuwan, head of transaction banking at Siam Commercial Bank, said the Thai lender invests in capabilities intended to help corporate and institutional clients operate more efficiently in a global business environment. He said the collaboration with Citi makes SCB the first bank in Thailand to use tokenisation to strengthen cross-border dollar capabilities and gives clients more flexibility in international activity.

Mridula Iyer, Asia South head of services at Citi, described the combined 24/7 dollar clearing and token services product as an “industry-first” linking traditional and digital payment rails. She said Citi is building interoperable capabilities across banks, markets and networks as part of what the bank calls its “network of networks” approach.

The banks said the launch contributes to Thailand’s digital financial infrastructure by bringing blockchain-enabled payment capabilities to Thai businesses and financial institutions. They also linked the development to Thailand’s broader digital economy agenda and the Bank of Thailand’s vision for a more modern and interoperable financial system.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.