Singapore’s big three banks completed the first live interbank Singapore dollar transactions using tokenised deposits and Swift’s blockchain-based ledger. DBS, OCBC and UOB recorded obligations on their respective infrastructures, while Swift matched and netted them before final settlement through existing systems.

Elsewhere, Lloyds and Société Générale completed a fully digital letter of credit between the UK and France. JP Morgan deployed UPI infrastructure for corporate and merchant clients in India, US. Bank tested its USBDC stablecoin for an internal cross-border payment and DBS Bank India added multi-gateway orchestration to its merchant collections platform.

Read more on the week’s key developments

1. Singapore banks test shared-ledger orchestration for domestic payments

On 10 September, DBS, OCBC and UOB completed the first live Singapore dollar interbank transactions using tokenised deposits on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger. The banks exchanged payment messages through the ledger and recorded the resulting obligations on their respective tokenised-deposit infrastructures. Swift acted as an orchestration layer, matching and netting the obligations before final settlement through existing systems. The transactions followed Swift’s July announcement that the ledger was ready for initial use, with 17 banks across six continents preparing to conduct live transactions.

The structure addresses a central challenge in tokenised deposits by connecting digital money issued on separate bank infrastructures. Each bank retains its own deposit system, while Swift provides a common layer for exchanging instructions and reconciling obligations. Using existing settlement systems also gives banks a route to introduce always-on payment capabilities without requiring every participant to adopt the same token platform. Swift and the three banks are exploring applications across corporate treasury, trade and digital commerce.

2. Lloyds and Société Générale complete fully digital LC between France and UK

On 10 September, Lloyds and Société Générale announced the first fully digital letter of credit transaction under real commercial conditions between France and the UK. Lloyds issued the LC on 8 June on behalf of UK packaging manufacturer Board24 for an industrial equipment purchase from BOBST Lyon, with Société Générale acting as confirming bank. Enigio’s technology allowed the participants to issue, transfer and hold a single digital original throughout the transaction.

The transaction follows the UK’s Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 and France’s adoption of legislation in 2024 giving electronic trade documents legal recognition, supported by an implementing decree that took effect in August 2025. That legal alignment allows a digital original to carry the same rights as a paper document across both markets. The use of an open network also allowed the banks and corporate counterparties to retain control of the document independently, reducing reliance on a single closed trade platform.

3. Mercuria raises JPY 145.3 billion in three-year Samurai loan

On 10 September, Mercuria Energy Group completed a JPY 145.3 billion ($900 million) three-year Samurai term loan. The facility refinances a JPY 130.9 billion ($850 million) Samurai loan signed in 2024 and will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes. Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation acted as bookrunning mandated lead arrangers.

The new facility is approximately 11% larger than the loan it replaces, extending Mercuria’s access to Japanese bank liquidity during continued volatility in commodity markets. Mercuria has raised financing in Japan since 2014, making the Samurai market an established part of its funding base. The renewal provides three years of working-capital capacity for a business whose financing requirements move with commodity prices and trading volumes.

4. Standard Chartered arranges RMB 770 million loan for Asakabank

On 11 September, Standard Chartered announced that it had acted as Sole Mandated Lead Arranger for a RMB 770 million ($114.7 million) syndicated loan to Uzbekistan-based Asakabank. The facility is Asakabank’s first RMB-denominated syndicated loan and Standard Chartered’s third transaction with the bank. Proceeds will support clients importing goods from China.

The facility connects Asakabank’s funding currency more closely with the currency of its clients’ imports, reducing the need to convert other currencies into RMB for trade payments. Standard Chartered and Asakabank also signed an agreement covering RMB business and cross-border opportunities at the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong. Together with Asakabank’s planned RMB account at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, the loan creates a wider funding and payment channel for trade between Uzbekistan and China.

5. UKEF provides GBP 655 million in support for Angola infrastructure

On 8 September, UK Export Finance announced GBP 655 million ($882 million) in financing support for four infrastructure projects in Angola, expected to generate GBP 167 million ($225 million) in contracts for UK businesses. The package covers Cabinda Airport, rehabilitation of the Camama-Viana road, an electrification programme in Uíge Province and a transmission line connecting Huambo and Benguela provinces.

The package combines export-credit support with commercial-bank execution to finance projects whose size and tenor may exceed conventional lending capacity. Standard Chartered is the export credit agent for the GBP 371 million airport facility and the GBP 73 million road facility. UKEF has provided GBP 2 billion in support for Angola over the past eight years, showing how repeated sovereign-backed transactions can build a pipeline for exporters across transport and power infrastructure.

6. SACE and Banco Nación Argentina expand support for Italian exporters

On 9 September, SACE and Banco de la Nación Argentina signed a cooperation agreement covering financing, insurance and guarantee solutions for trade between Italy and Argentina. The institutions will identify projects and exchange information on opportunities involving Italian exporters and Argentine buyers, with an emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises. Priority sectors include energy, sustainable transition, infrastructure, machinery, agri-food, textiles and construction.

The agreement links SACE’s insurance and guarantee capacity with Banco Nación’s corporate relationships and knowledge of local buyers. That combination can help Italian suppliers address buyer-credit and country risks while giving Argentine companies access to financing tied to imported equipment and services. The agreement establishes a pipeline for future transactions, with individual facilities to be developed as eligible projects and buyers are identified.

7. JP Morgan Payments deploys UPI infrastructure for corporate clients in India

On 11 September, JP Morgan Payments and Mindgate Solutions announced the deployment of UPI infrastructure for the bank’s corporate and merchant clients in India. Built on Mindgate’s Unified Digital Payment Hub, the infrastructure supports real-time collections and payouts, including QR payments, intent-based flows and UPI Autopay. It extends an existing collaboration between the companies covering India’s Immediate Payment Service.

UPI processed 24.51 billion transactions worth INR 29.82 trillion ($314.2 billion) in August 2026, illustrating the scale required of banks serving companies in India. Mindgate says its infrastructure processes more than 12 billion digital transactions each month through partner banks. Connecting UPI and IMPS with JP Morgan’s global network and APIs allows multinational clients to manage Indian collections, disbursements and cash flows through their wider banking relationship.

8. US Bank completes live USBDC cross-border payment pilot

On 9 September, US Bank, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the US, announced that it had completed a live pilot using USBDC, its proprietary US dollar-backed stablecoin, for a payment between its entities in North America and Europe. The transaction ran on the public Stellar blockchain while remaining integrated with the bank’s finance, risk, compliance and operations infrastructure. US Bank’s Digital Asset Platform supported minting, redemption, freezing and clawback functions.

The pilot combines public-blockchain settlement with controls normally associated with bank-operated payment infrastructure. The ability to freeze or recover tokens gives the issuing bank greater control over the asset throughout its lifecycle, while integration with internal systems connects the on-chain transfer to established governance and reporting processes. US Bank is exploring the same infrastructure for liquidity management, collateral movement and cross-border treasury operations.

9. DBS Bank India adds multi-gateway orchestration to merchant collections

On 9 September, DBS Bank India expanded its DBS MAX merchant collections platform with a digital payment management solution powered by Juspay. Businesses can connect to multiple payment aggregators through a single integration and route transactions according to merchant-defined rules and payment performance. A unified dashboard provides information on transaction success rates, refunds and reconciliation, while gateway-agnostic card tokenisation supports switching between participating providers.

India’s UPI transaction volumes have increased more than 12,000 times over the past decade, contributing to higher transaction loads and greater use of multiple payment aggregators by merchants. Orchestration allows businesses to manage those connections without building and maintaining a separate integration for every provider. For DBS, the proposition extends merchant acquiring beyond payment acceptance into routing, resilience, reconciliation and visibility across collections.

10. Swiss stablecoin sandbox adds SIX and TWINT

On 8 September, SIX and TWINT joined Switzerland’s CHF stablecoin sandbox, bringing the number of participating companies to nine. UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, SIX, TWINT and Swiss Stablecoin AG are testing CHFD, a token designed to maintain a one-to-one peg with the Swiss franc. The token has been technically live in the sandbox since the end of June.

SIX brings financial-market infrastructure into an initiative initially centred on banks, while TWINT adds expertise in domestic digital payments. This widens the range of potential workflows across financial-institution transfers, tokenised-asset settlement and programmable payments. The controlled live environment has a restricted participant pool and transaction limits, with testing expected to continue through the end of 2026 before the participants publish their findings.