The move towards 24/7 cross-border payments is putting greater attention on how banks fund settlement, not just how quickly payment instructions can be processed.

New payment and settlement networks can operate beyond conventional banking hours, but banks still need liquidity in the appropriate currency and settlement institution to complete transactions. As banks develop digital infrastructure alongside existing correspondent-banking arrangements, another challenge is how different systems interact without requiring institutions to establish separate funding and connectivity arrangements for each network.

Singapore-based Partior is addressing this through a model centred on interoperability. Its blockchain-based multi-bank network supports US dollar, euro and Singapore dollar clearing and settlement around the clock.

Chief Executive Officer Humphrey Valenbreder said he did not expect the industry to converge quickly around a single form of digital money or payment network.

“Banks increasingly operate across conventional commercial bank money, tokenised deposits and other emerging settlement models, making interoperability critical to avoiding further fragmentation,” he said.

Rather than requiring institutions to commit to one rail, Partior's approach is to provide infrastructure for “the settlement, interoperability and orchestration of different forms of digital money”, Valenbreder said.

That proposition is being tested through Partior's collaboration with LSEG Digital Settlement House (DiSH), involving JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered. The initiative is developing a multi-settlement bank model combining Partior's multi-currency clearing and settlement network with LSEG DiSH's infrastructure.

Industry testing is under way, with production go-live and commercial onboarding of additional settlement banks planned from the first quarter of 2027.

Reducing reliance on pre-funded accounts

The model focuses on reducing reliance on liquidity pre-funded across bilateral correspondent-banking relationships.

Valenbreder said participating banks would be able to manage settlement liquidity across multiple banks without establishing and pre-funding a bilateral nostro/vostro account for every relationship.

“The Partior-LSEG DiSH model gives banks the ability to manage settlement liquidity across multiple banks on an always-on basis, without needing to establish and pre-fund bilateral nostro/vostro accounts for each relationship,” he said.

Combining Partior's multi-currency clearing and settlement network with LSEG DiSH's omnibus trust-account framework would allow participating banks to optimise liquidity in real time rather than position capital in advance across multiple accounts, he said.

This would reduce dependence on traditional payment cut-off times and operating hours, giving banks greater flexibility to deploy liquidity when and where it is needed and support cross-border payments around the clock.

Under the arrangement, Partior provides the multi-currency clearing and settlement network, while LSEG DiSH acts as a neutral third party through its omnibus trust-account framework.

“Our combined infrastructure enables participating banks to manage settlement liquidity across multiple settlement banks without requiring direct bilateral accounts or proprietary digital integrations between every participant,” Valenbreder said.

LSEG Post Trade Solutions CEO Andrew Williams similarly described DiSH's role in the joint announcement as providing a neutral third-party option connecting independent payment ecosystems. Combining its omnibus trust-account structure with Partior's clearing scheme was intended to allow participating banks to manage settlement liquidity without direct bilateral accounts and proprietary digital-system integrations, he said.

Making different payment networks work together

Partior's approach reflects the increasing number of payment and settlement infrastructures being developed by banks and market operators alongside existing correspondent-banking arrangements.

The company emerged from Project Ubin, the Monetary Authority of Singapore-led industry initiative that explored distributed-ledger technology for payments and securities settlement. Partior was incorporated in 2021 with DBS, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered and Temasek as founding shareholders.

Its network became generally available in 2023, supporting US dollars, euros and Singapore dollars. Deutsche Bank became a strategic investor in 2024, bringing Partior's Series B funding to $80 million.

In September 2025, Deutsche Bank completed its first euro-denominated cross-border payment through Partior, acting as settlement bank with DBS as beneficiary bank.

Valenbreder said the development of multiple forms of digital money and payment networks made interoperability increasingly important.

JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered are participating in the multi-settlement bank initiative while also investing in digital payment infrastructure of their own.

Valenbreder said their participation reflected a growing focus among global banks on making always-on settlement practical and permanent.

“We are seeing that banks are investing significantly in their own payment networks and digital infrastructure, however these systems need to interoperate with other banks and infrastructures rather than operate as isolated ecosystems,” he said.

The common objective was to improve liquidity efficiency, reduce reliance on pre-funded accounts and enable cross-border settlement across digital and traditional infrastructure on an always-on basis, he said.

That interoperability requirement was also emphasised by JP Morgan in the joint announcement. “Interoperability between institutional platforms is essential for real-time market infrastructure,” said Oliver Harris, Global Head of Kinexys by JP Morgan.

He said bringing LSEG DiSH into the ecosystem would allow settlement banks and Kinexys Blockchain Deposit Account clients to transact around the clock and expand liquidity rails across digital and legacy systems.

The comments point to a broader issue in the development of digital settlement infrastructure: banks are building their own capabilities, but those networks increasingly need to connect with other institutions and infrastructures rather than operate independently.

Extending the business case beyond payment speed

Valenbreder said the business case for the model extended beyond making payments faster. Giving banks the ability to access and move settlement liquidity around the clock could reduce the need to maintain pre-funded liquidity across multiple bilateral accounts and improve how treasury teams deploy capital.

It could also reduce the operational complexity associated with managing multiple banking relationships and integrations, he said.

For corporate clients, Valenbreder said this could translate into faster cross-border payments, greater visibility and more continuous access to payment services.

“Over time, more immediate settlement can also support more efficient use of liquidity and capital and enable use cases such as intraday FX (foreign exchange), PVP (payment versus payment) and DVP (delivery versus payment) settlement,” he said.

Deutsche Bank framed the business case similarly around liquidity management. Patricia Sullivan, Global Head of Institutional Cash Management at Deutsche Bank, said in the joint announcement that the bank was seeking “tangible liquidity efficiency” from commercial-bank-money settlement.

“By removing the need for pre-funded nostro/vostro accounts outside standard operating hours, this multi-settlement bank framework will allow us to execute cross-border transactions and optimise liquidity 24/7 for our clients,” she said.

The emphasis on liquidity broadens the business question around real-time payments. Faster transaction processing is one element; how banks fund those transactions and manage liquidity across institutions and currencies is another.

Partior's multi-settlement bank model is intended to address the latter by connecting settlement banks through common infrastructure rather than requiring a separate bilateral funding arrangement for every relationship.

Moving from testing to production

The immediate next stage is industry testing of the multi-settlement bank model ahead of production go-live and commercial onboarding from the first quarter of 2027.

Valenbreder said the initiative was being built on Partior's existing production infrastructure. “We already operate a live multi-bank network supporting USD, EUR and SGD with 24/7 clearing and settlement, and we are now working with LSEG and participating banks on industry testing of the multi-settlement bank model,” he said.

The focus during testing was on ensuring that the model delivers the “certainty, resilience and controls required by regulated financial institutions” as the participants work towards production go-live and commercial onboarding of additional settlement banks, he said.

The progression from an existing multi-bank network to a multi-settlement bank structure is part of Partior's broader interoperability strategy. The model is intended to provide common infrastructure through which settlement liquidity can be managed across multiple settlement banks without requiring direct bilateral accounts or proprietary integrations between every participant.

Building a network of interoperable networks

Partior's longer-term proposition rests on the expectation that cross-border settlement will continue to involve multiple forms of money and infrastructure rather than consolidate around one network.

“As more banks, currencies and infrastructures emerge, we see our role increasingly focused on interoperability and orchestration, making those different systems work together,” Valenbreder said.

“We don't expect the market to consolidate around a single network or form of digital money. Different institutions and markets will make different choices, and our role is to make that variety easier to navigate.”

Standard Chartered, a founding shareholder of Partior, expressed a similar view in the joint announcement. “Interoperability is key to unlocking next-generation payments infrastructure,” said Mark Willis, Global Head of Emerging Payments at Standard Chartered.

“The partnership between Partior and LSEG DiSH connects complementary market infrastructures, improving liquidity management and supporting cross-border payments in an always-on global economy.”

Valenbreder said he expected cross-border settlement to become increasingly interconnected, with infrastructure providers collaborating rather than requiring banks to rebuild their operating models for every new network.

“Our collaboration with LSEG DiSH is a good example of that approach: connecting complementary infrastructure to make always-on settlement liquidity available across a broader ecosystem,” he said.

The Partior-LSEG initiative therefore brings together two related issues in always-on cross-border settlement: interoperability between different payment and settlement infrastructures, and the management of liquidity across them.

Partior's approach is to use common infrastructure to enable settlement liquidity to move across multiple settlement banks while accommodating different networks and forms of digital money. The involvement of LSEG and three global banks provides different institutional perspectives on the same underlying issues of interoperability and liquidity management as the model moves through industry testing towards planned production use from 2027.