Michelle Neal joined Fnality International in 2025 from the the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where she was head of the markets group and a member of the bank’s executive committee. She is responsible for driving the expansion of Fnality’s regulated network of distributed financial market infrastructures, following the launch of Sterling Fnality Payment System (£FnPS), the first regulated DLT-based wholesale payment system in December 2023.

What made you want to move from the Federal Reserve to Fnality last year?

Honestly, it came down to impact.

I’d spent years leading markets businesses in the private sector and then running Markets at the New York Fed, which gave me perspective as both a market participant and a system operator. I’d seen how the system works when everything is smooth – and what holds it together under stress.

What became increasingly clear to me is that markets are digitizing rapidly, but the settlement layer isn’t keeping pace. Assets can trade in milliseconds, yet liquidity and collateral still move through structures built for a different era. You can tokenize assets all day long, but if the payment leg can’t settle with certainty and finality on chain, you’re still carrying friction and balance-sheet inefficiency. At scale, that becomes a structural constraint.

Fnality offered the opportunity to address that within established regulatory frameworks and to modernize wholesale settlement at its foundation. This isn’t about blockchain for its own sake. It’s about strengthening settlement, liquidity, and collateral so capital markets can operate more efficiently and more resiliently.

I was attracted to the evolution of that mission – strengthening and future-proofing market infrastructure through the lens of systemic resilience.

What has been most useful from your experience at the Fed in your current role?

At the Fed, you learn very quickly that financial stability rests on the fundamentals (settlement finality, liquidity management, operational resilience) – the things most people only notice when they fail.

Running Markets there gave me deep respect for the role central banks play in anchoring trust. When you’re responsible for critical services, you think differently about infrastructure. It must work every day, especially on the worst days.

That experience shaped how I think about digital infrastructure today. Innovation is valuable, but only if it preserves or improves systemic safety. Tokenization can absolutely drive operational efficiency, but only if the settlement and collateral rails keep up.

Volatility is the real test. When markets move quickly, collateral shifts, margin calls accelerate, and liquidity needs change intraday. That’s when you see whether faster settlement and cleaner collateral workflows genuinely reduce friction or simply move it somewhere else.

Having lived through stress episodes, my standard is practical: does this work at scale, under pressure? If not, it isn’t ready.

The Sterling Fnality Payment System has been launched in the UK. Do you intend to expand into other currencies and jurisdictions?

Yes, but thoughtfully. We are focused on an initial set of five currencies that represent the largest markets and payment corridors for wholesale flows that will add value to our shareholders and participants.

The UK is our first live system, regulated by the Bank of England, it’s also the first live wholesale payment system built on a DLT settling in a digital representation of central bank money, and we’re proud of that. But wholesale markets are inherently cross-border. Liquidity, collateral, and risk management don’t sit neatly inside one jurisdiction, even if regulation does.

For digital settlement to scale in a meaningful way, it has to reflect how institutions actually operate, which is across currencies, time zones, and infrastructures. That means expanding carefully, working within established regulatory frameworks in each market, and ensuring interoperability from the outset.

The objective isn’t simply geographic growth. It’s building a settlement layer that can connect markets rather than fragment them.

Fnality raised $136m in Series C Funding last year. How is this funding being used?

We’re using it to do three things.

First, expanding beyond Sterling. Getting live in the UK was a significant milestone, but we’re building a global system of payment infrastructures. Global wholesale markets don’t operate in one currency, and our model is designed to support that reality over time. We’re actively working toward additional currency launches.

Second, deepening integration with participants. The technology works, but the real work is embedding it into day-to-day liquidity management, treasury, and collateral workflows. That’s where the value becomes tangible. That’s where institutions see measurable balance-sheet efficiency.

And finally, continued investment in resilience and operations, because in market infrastructure, reliability must be inbuilt. Our ambition is scale with stability.

There are lots of forms of digital money emerging including stablecoins, CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) and banks issuing deposit tokens. What differentiates Fnality and what role does the firm play in this ecosystem?

We’re seeing a lot of diversity in the digital asset ecosystem, from stablecoins and tokenized deposits to potential central bank digital currency in certain geographies. It’s a sign the market is evolving.

All of these have their specific uses, but what we believe matters is settlement quality.

Regardless of which instruments gain traction, institutions still need a way to settle with certainty, finality, and efficiency – particularly at scale. That settlement layer has to be trusted, legally robust, and aligned with established regulatory frameworks.

Fnality isn’t trying to introduce another competing form of money. We’re focused on enabling high-quality on-chain settlement in a digital representation of central bank money, so that these instruments can operate more efficiently.

In capital markets, novelty doesn’t drive adoption, but balance-sheet confidence does.

If institutions can reduce intraday exposures, free up trapped liquidity, and settle atomically where appropriate, that’s when digital markets will move from innovation to necessity. 

There are many tokenization initiatives emerging from traditional FMIs, as well as crypto-native firms? How do we ensure interoperability and avoid fragmentation of liquidity? 

Fragmentation is the central risk at this stage of market development.

Innovation tends to produce multiple platforms, multiple standards, and multiple liquidity pools. That’s natural. But capital markets only scale when liquidity can move efficiently and confidently across systems.

Interoperability isn’t just a technical challenge. It’s legal, operational, and governance-driven. Institutions need clarity around finality, rulebooks, risk management, and supervisory oversight – not just APIs.

If liquidity becomes siloed in disconnected ecosystems, adoption will plateau.

The next phase of the market isn’t about launching more platforms. It’s about alignment across the ecosystems – connecting them and ensuring that digital assets, digital money, and existing payment infrastructures can operate together without forcing institutions to redesign their balance sheets.

Trusted settlement rails are a critical part of that architecture. They provide the common denominator that allows innovation to scale without fragmenting liquidity.

Do you expect to see more real use cases this year around tokenization and collateral mobility?

Yes, but the most meaningful ones will look practical.

The real drivers aren’t abstract innovation agendas. They’re balance-sheet realities: intraday liquidity management, collateral mobility, margin optimization, and repo efficiency. When you can shorten settlement cycles or release trapped liquidity even within a single trading day, that creates measurable value.

What I’m seeing now is a shift in tone. The conversation is moving away from “let’s run another pilot” toward “does this improve my liquidity position on a volatile trading day?”

That’s a very different question.

When digital infrastructure starts solving day-to-day balance-sheet constraints, and is not just proving technical feasibility, that’s when adoption accelerates.

Markets don’t scale because something is novel. They scale because it works and delivers tangible benefits to the bottom line.

What advice would you give to women who want to work in finance?

Develop a depth of knowledge. You don’t have to be the loudest voice in the room, but you do need to understand the details. Technical confidence builds credibility – and credibility compounds over time.

Take stretch roles before you feel entirely ready. Most opportunities that shape your trajectory tend to arrive slightly before your own comfort zone expands.

Be intentional about building your network through mentors, sponsors, and peers. And invest in it consistently.

And finally, focus on the craft. Finance is demanding, but it rewards expertise, resilience, and long-term thinking.

How do you relax outside work?

Markets and infrastructure can be intense, so I’m deliberate about creating space away from that.

Exercise is important for me – early mornings help clear my head and reset perspective. I also genuinely enjoy cooking. It’s hands-on, creative, and completely different from strategic decision-making.

And time with family is grounding, it helps me keep everything in proportion.