Citi and DBS partner on instant cross-border USD payments via Swift

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Citi and DBS test instant payments

Highlights

DBS and Citi completed a weekend U.S. dollar payment in minutes.
Tokenized deposits were transferred using the Swift Digital Ledger.
Conventional cross-border payments can take up to two business days.
Asian outbound payments could reach $24 trillion by 2033.

The payment between DBS and Citi’s New York office was completed on Sept. 5 using tokenized deposits via the Swift Digital Ledger, according to the official DBS website. The test demonstrates how existing banks can combine tokenized money with shared digital infrastructure to process institutional payments around the clock.

Tokenized deposits move beyond banking hours

Cross-border payments can be delayed when transactions pass through institutions operating in different time zones or when transfers are initiated outside normal banking hours. Weekend payments can face additional delays before funds become available to recipients.

The DBS-Citi transaction was designed to remove that constraint. By settling tokenized deposits through Swift Digital Ledger infrastructure, the banks were able to complete the transfer in minutes even though it took place during a weekend.

For corporate treasury departments, faster settlement could make it easier to shift liquidity between subsidiaries and markets when conditions change. That is particularly relevant for businesses operating continuously across multiple regions, including e-commerce companies and digital service providers.

The experiment also reflects growing interest in blockchain-based treasury infrastructure. DBS research found that 50% of finance leaders are exploring blockchain capabilities as part of their liquidity and foreign-exchange management strategies.

Asia drives demand for faster payments

The potential market is substantial. Outbound cross-border payments from Asia are projected to reach $24 trillion by 2033, compared with $13.5 trillion in 2025.

Banks are increasingly examining whether tokenized commercial-bank deposits can improve settlement without requiring corporate customers to move outside the regulated banking system. The approach differs from relying on public cryptocurrencies, with deposits remaining connected to established financial institutions while the underlying transfer infrastructure becomes available continuously.

DBS has been developing this model for several years. In 2024, it introduced DBS Token Services, which supports programmable and near-instant value transfers through its permissioned blockchain infrastructure. The Singapore bank is also the only Asian-headquartered institution among the 12 banks in Swift’s Digital Ledger core design group.

A test for always-on global banking

The significance of the transaction lies less in its individual size than in what it demonstrates: regulated banks can move tokenized deposits internationally without waiting for the conventional banking week to resume.

If the infrastructure scales, companies could gain faster access to working capital and greater control over liquidity and FX exposure. With Asian outbound payment volumes projected to rise by more than $10 trillion between 2025 and 2033, reducing settlement delays could become increasingly important for banks competing for corporate payment flows.

We also reported Citi seeks a China brokerage license to accelerate expansion.

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