UBS has successfully piloted a blockchain-based payment system, UBS Digital Cash, designed to improve the speed and efficiency of cross-border transactions for corporate and institutional clients.

In the pilot, transactions with multinational clients and banks were successfully carried out, including domestic transactions within Switzerland and cross-border payments in US dollars, Swiss francs, Euros and Chinese yuan. In addition, the pilot also included the transfer of liquidity between various UBS companies.

A key aim of the programme is to improve the view of liquidity positions for corporate clients, which can often be fragmented due to delays in settlement. With UBS Digital Cash, the bank says companies should be able to manage intraday-liquidity and adjust liquidity buffers on their accounts more easily in the future, thanks to greater visibility of their total cash positions.

Andy Kollegger, head UBS Institutional & Multinational Banking, says: “Blockchain-based payment solutions for cross-border payments are a strategic focus for UBS. With the successful UBS Digital Cash pilot, we have reached another important milestone.”

For the payment process, UBS Digital Cash uses a private blockchain network to which only the permissioned clients have access. The settlement is performed via smart contracts, which, for example, automatically execute payments as soon as predefined conditions are met. Client transfers at UBS are recorded and processed in a digital system for recording transactions – independent of currency, practically in real time and around the clock.

Xiaonan Zou, UBS head digital assets, Group Treasury, states: ”We see the interoperability between UBS Digital Cash and other digital cash initiatives as key for the financial industry. In addition to their role in correspondent banking, they also have the potential to streamline and simplify the settlement of tokenized assets in the capital market.”

Source: UBS