Central Banks Explore Synchronisation for Cross-Border FX Transactions

The project encompassed a wider range of currencies, technologies, infrastructures and time zones. Partior, the project’s delivery partner, developed, integrated and tested the Synchronisation Operator prototype for the trial. The trial also demonstrated how multilateral net FX settlement can support banks in using their liquidity more efficiently by netting payments against each other (source ID 1). The project also examined the legal, regulatory and oversight considerations for applying synchronised FX settlement across diverse wholesale settlement systems. The analysis was informed by perspectives from the Reserve Bank of Australia and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, who participated as observer central banks (source ID 1). [1]

The project’s findings and insights are published across three complementary reports: Introduction and Executive Summary, Technical Report, and Policy Report. Together, they set out the experimental results, key technical findings and policy considerations. These results provide insights for further exploration of synchronisation as a means of enabling safer and more efficient FX settlement across diverse wholesale settlement systems (source ID 1). Future work could involve extending the existing approach to additional jurisdictions and industry participants, a wider range of currencies and transaction scenarios, and further consider the legal arrangements needed in practice (source ID 1). [1]

The Bank of England, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Bank of Thailand have published the findings from their collaboration on foreign exchange (FX) settlement under Project Meridian FX APAC. The project showed that synchronisation – a service that coordinates movements of central bank money – could be one approach to supporting interoperability across wholesale settlement environments built on different technologies and operating models. This marks significant progress in making cross-border FX transactions safer and more efficient, and supporting interoperability as different forms of money evolve in different ways. Building on earlier work, Project Meridian FX APAC tested payment-versus-payment (PvP) FX settlement and multilateral net FX across the three central banks’ test environments, spanning both Real-Time Gross Settlement and Distributed Ledger Technology-based settlement systems (Source ID: 1). [1]

The project encompassed a wider range of currencies, technologies, infrastructures and time zones. Partior, the project’s delivery partner, developed, integrated and tested the Synchronisation Operator prototype for the trial. The trial demonstrated that synchronised settlement can be achieved across central bank systems with different technologies and capabilities, while identifying the requirements and trade-offs involved. They also demonstrated how multilateral net FX settlement can support banks in using their liquidity more efficiently by netting payments against each other. The project also examined the legal, regulatory and oversight considerations for applying synchronised FX settlement across diverse wholesale settlement systems (Source ID: 1). [1]

The analysis was informed by perspectives from the Reserve Bank of Australia and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, who participated as observer central banks. The project’s findings and insights are published across three complementary reports: Introduction and Executive Summary, Technical Report, and Policy Report. Together, they set out the experimental results, key technical findings and policy considerations. These results provide insights for further exploration of synchronisation as a means of enabling safer and more efficient FX settlement across diverse wholesale settlement systems (Source ID: 1). [1]

The Bank of England, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Bank of Thailand have published the findings from their collaboration on foreign exchange (FX) settlement under Project Meridian FX APAC. The project showed that synchronisation – a service that coordinates movements of central bank money – could be one approach to supporting interoperability across wholesale settlement environments built on different technologies and operating models. This marks significant progress in making cross-border FX transactions safer and more efficient, and supporting interoperability as different forms of money evolve in different ways. The findings provide valuable insight into how the approach could be developed into a live service, in light of the Bank of England’s plans to launch a live synchronisation interface in 2028. [1]

Building on earlier work, Project Meridian FX APAC tested payment-versus-payment (PvP) FX settlement and multilateral net FX across the three central banks’ test environments, spanning both Real-Time Gross Settlement and Distributed Ledger Technology-based settlement systems. The project encompassed a wider range of currencies, technologies, infrastructures and time zones. Partior, the project’s delivery partner, developed, integrated and tested the Synchronisation Operator prototype for the trial. The trial demonstrated that synchronised settlement can be achieved across central bank systems with different technologies and capabilities, while identifying the requirements and trade-offs involved. [1]

The project also examined the legal, regulatory and oversight considerations for applying synchronised FX settlement across diverse wholesale settlement systems. The analysis was informed by perspectives from the Reserve Bank of Australia and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, who participated as observer central banks. The project’s findings and insights are published across three complementary reports: Introduction and Executive Summary, Technical Report, and Policy Report. Together, they set out the experimental results, key technical findings and policy considerations. [1]

Sources

Bank of England News

Prepared with AI assistance from the cited sources.