Moving liquidity between a company's own accounts or entities on a ledger, e.g. intra-group transfers with tokenised deposits.
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Why tokenise?
Draft analysis · not yet reviewed by the editor · updated 12 Oct 2026. The flows below are simplified for general understanding. Real implementations vary a great deal and are often far more complex.
A multinational's cash is spread across dozens of companies, banks and countries, and it can only be moved while each bank's payment system is open. So treasurers park extra cash everywhere "just in case". Tokenised deposits let a company move its own money between its entities in seconds, at any hour, and even set rules that move it automatically. This is live today at J.P. Morgan, Citi, HSBC and DBS, but only between accounts at the same bank.
Improves an existing processTreasurers already move cash between group companies and use bank cash pooling, where balances are swept into a central account, usually once a day after the close. Tokenisation does not change what treasury does; it removes the clock. Money moves the moment it is needed, including at weekends and across time zones, and the sweep rules can run continuously. Large users include Ant International (on its own Whale platform, with HSBC, DBS and OCBC tokenised deposits), Siemens, BMW and Mitsubishi on J.P. Morgan's Kinexys, and Citi and HSBC clients in six or seven markets each.
The problem today
Most central bank payment systems close at weekends and on public holidays, and very few run close to 24/7. Gaps between opening times in different countries slow payments and add liquidity costs and settlement risk.[1]
Moving cash between a group's companies is bound by bank cut-off times and holidays, which makes it hard to meet sudden funding needs, for example when commodity prices swing.[2]
Because they cannot act overnight, at weekends or on bank holidays, companies keep extra cash buffers to cover those gaps.[3]
Cash can sit idle over weekends or in subsidiaries abroad because of legacy cut-off times, so treasurers are advised to audit this "trapped" intraday cash.[4]
Treasurers often lack a real-time view of cash across entities, so decisions rely on end-of-day reports and forecasts.[5]
Today vs tokenised (simplified)
End to end:hours to two days, longer over weekends and holidays→seconds, at any hour · Only between accounts on the same bank's network; transfers to other banks still use ordinary rails.
Todayend to end: hours to two days, longer over weekends and holidays
Group treasuryForecasts each subsidiary's needs and leaves a cash buffer in each country to cover gapsongoingremoved
Group treasuryInstructs a transfer between group companies before the bank's cut-off timeminutes
Sending bankWaits for its own and the receiving country's payment systems to be openup to next business day; longer over weekends and holidaysremoved
BanksSettle the transfer, often via correspondent banks when it crosses borders, and convert currency separatelyhours to two days
BankRuns the cash pooling sweep into the central account, usually once a day after the closeend of dayremoved
Group treasuryReconciles balances across banks and entities from end-of-day statementsnext morningremoved
Tokenisedend to end: seconds, at any hour
Group treasurySets rules once, for example "top up New York from Frankfurt in dollars if the balance falls below a level"minutes, once
Shared ledger at the bankChecks balances continuously and triggers the transfer when the rule is met, at any hourseconds
Shared ledger at the bankConverts currency if needed and moves the tokenised deposits between the group's accountsseconds
Group treasurySees the updated position on the ledger straight awayseconds
Treasurers can move money between group companies in the evening, at weekends and on holidays, and across time zones without waiting for banks to open. This is the main benefit banks and clients report today.
EvidencedMeaningfulAvailable now
Kinexys averages over $5 billion a day across all its payments (March 2026)Operator-reported[2]
Needs cash on the ledgerNeeds counterparties on the ledger
Ant International Whale tokenised treasury settlement: Ant International, as first client of HSBC's tokenised deposit service in Hong Kong, completed an instant transfer between its own group entities over an always-on service for Hong Kong dollar and US dollar payments, run through its Whale treasury platform. Ant says more than a third of its transactions were processed on-chain through Whale in 2024. No amounts or timings are published.[7]
Citi Token Services for Cash: Citi says clients of its tokenised deposit service can move funds near instantly between its locations in seven markets without being limited by cut-off times or holiday calendars, and that the service processes billions of dollars. Japan (US dollars) and the UAE (dollars and euros) were added in September 2026. No exact volume is given.[6]
DBS Token Services: DBS says its Treasury Tokens service, piloted with Ant International and in use for Ant's ongoing intra-group transfers, lets large companies settle multi-currency transfers between their own entities instantly at any hour, without currency cut-off times or bank closing hours. No timings or volumes are published; the claim is the bank's own.[8]
HSBC Tokenised Deposit Service: HSBC says eligible corporate and institutional clients can move funds 24/7, at home and across borders, including from treasury centres to subsidiaries, with settlement on its ledger and better real-time sight of cash positions. The service covers the US, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and Luxembourg in five currencies at the time of the release. No volumes or client numbers are given.[5]
Kinexys Digital Payments (blockchain deposit accounts): BMW moved money from euros in Frankfurt to dollars in New York between its own Kinexys accounts outside traditional settlement windows and without manual intervention; J.P. Morgan describes the FX settlement as running 24/7/365. No timings or amounts were disclosed.[9]
Sweeps and top-ups run on rules, around the clock, instead of a daily batch or a manual instruction. BMW's treasury teams pre-set the conditions for a euro-to-dollar top-up between Frankfurt and New York, and it ran without anyone touching it.
EvidencedMeaningfulAvailable now
Needs smart contracts
DBS Token Services: DBS's Conditional Payments service grew out of a grant disbursement pilot with Enterprise Singapore and the Singapore Fintech Association, in which the agency set conditions on funds paid out through its appointed intermediary, giving it more control over how the money was used. DBS plans to extend this to milestone-based and intermediated payments. No pilot size or results are published.[8]
Kinexys Digital Payments (blockchain deposit accounts): BMW's German and US treasury teams set rules in advance, and when those conditions were met the network checked balances, topped up accounts and converted euros to dollars between Frankfurt and New York automatically, which J.P. Morgan calls the first fully pre-programmed FX transaction on the service. No amounts were disclosed.[9]
Transfers between a group's own entities in different countries settle near-instantly when both accounts are on the same bank's network, for example Mitsubishi between Singapore, London and New York. HSBC offers cross-border transfers on the same basis.
EvidencedMeaningfulAvailable now
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds cash on the ledgerNeeds connected ledgers
Kinexys Digital Payments (blockchain deposit accounts): J.P. Morgan reports that Siemens has completed near-instant cross-border payments that convert US dollars to euros on its Kinexys blockchain deposit accounts, and that B2C2 has also settled USD to EUR on-chain. No settlement times or volumes for these flows are published; the speed claim is the bank's own.[10]
If cash can be moved the moment it is needed, a group can keep smaller buffers in each subsidiary and less idle cash over weekends. Central banks agree longer settlement hours cut liquidity costs, but no company has published how much cash it has freed.
Theory · high confidenceMeaningfulAvailable now
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds cash on the ledgerNeeds regulatory change
Treasury sees each entity's balance as it changes, instead of waiting for end-of-day statements from several banks. Claimed by HSBC and Ant; not measured.
Cash that can move by the hour can be used within the day, for example to meet a margin call in one entity with cash from another, instead of borrowing. Mitsubishi cites liquidity resilience during market stress. No figures are published.
Theory · low confidenceMarginalAs networks grow
Needs counterparties on the ledgerNeeds cash on the ledger
Where it is now
22 tracked deployments, 15 live. 3 of 6 benefits evidenced in production.
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The full potential
Intra-group treasury is the most mature use of tokenised deposits, because one company can benefit on its own: all the accounts are its own and the bank is the only other party. The next step is moving money between banks with the same speed, so a group with several banking partners is not limited to one bank's network. DBS and J.P. Morgan are working on this, and central banks are looking at longer operating hours.
Links between banks' tokenised deposit networks, so a group can move cash from one bank to another at any hour (DBS and Kinexys are building one)
More currencies on each network; most offer only a handful
Treasury systems and ERP integration so rules and positions feed into existing tools
Longer central bank operating hours, so tokenised balances can be turned into ordinary money at any time
Accounting and tax treatment confirming tokenised deposits are simply cash
Who it suits
Non-financial company, Bank, Fintech or technology firm · effort: low · one firm can get value on its own
A banking relationship with a provider that offers tokenised deposits in the relevant markets and currencies
Treasury processes and staff, or rules, that can act outside office hours
Onboarding, documentation and approvals at the bank; services are open to eligible corporate and institutional clients only
Limits and open questions
Single-bank islands. Citi's and HSBC's services move money between their own locations; going to another bank still means ordinary payment rails.[6]
Limited currencies and markets. J.P. Morgan says only select currencies are available to clients; HSBC listed five currencies in the US launch.[2]
No published savings. Operators describe the speed and hours, but none reports how much buffer cash clients have released or what it saves.[7]
The rest of the system still keeps office hours. Very few central bank payment systems run close to 24/7, so moving tokenised cash out to another bank at a weekend can still mean waiting.[1]