BNP Paribas, HSBC complete first corporate payment on Swift’s blockchain ledger

BNP Paribas and HSBC ↗ 0.42% have completed the first live corporate treasury payment on Swift's blockchain-based shared ledger, moving funds for Siemens from a euro account in France to a sterling account in the United Kingdom. The cross-currency transaction, announced on Thursday, marks the first time a corporate end-customer has used the platform for a real payment, extending blockchain-based settlement beyond interbank testing and into mainstream treasury operations.finextra+1

How the Transaction Worked

The pilot moved money from Siemens' euro-denominated account held with BNP Paribas in France to its sterling-denominated account with HSBC in the UK. Rather than relying on traditional sequential messaging between banks, the transaction used Swift's shared ledger to settle using tokenized deposits — digital representations of commercial bank money recorded on blockchain infrastructure.ffnews+2

Swift launched the shared ledger in September 2025 and completed its design phase in March 2026. The platform is designed for interoperability, allowing participating banks to settle transactions on-chain without abandoning their existing systems. BNP Paribas and HSBC join other institutions including Citi, FAB, and OCBC that have conducted live transactions on the platform.cointrust+2

What the Banks Said

Pierre Fersztand, global head of cash management, payments, trade solutions, and factoring at BNP Paribas, called the transaction "a significant milestone in the evolution of cross-border payments," adding that it reflects the bank's "commitment to industrialising digital finance at scale." Lewis Sun, global head of digital currencies at HSBC, described the payment as "a major step forward for real-world, cross-bank digital settlement."finextra

Raphael Marek, head of France and Benelux at Swift, said the organization had "worked at pace to develop a shared blockchain-based ledger that is designed for interoperability from the start." He noted that enabling 24/7 payments was "just the first use case" and that the ledger is intended to serve as "a foundation for future innovation."finextra

Why It Matters

For multinational corporations like Siemens, managing funds across multiple banks and currencies typically involves fragmented reporting and manual reconciliation. The shared ledger aims to create a single source of truth for payment status and fund availability, giving corporate treasurers real-time visibility over cash positions. The successful cross-currency settlement demonstrates that tokenized deposits can function within regulated banking processes, potentially reducing settlement friction and counterparty risk for global corporate treasuries.bigmarketmoves+2