Shorter-term benefits
In the shorter-term, we see the greatest opportunities for customer benefit emerging in Wealth, Capital Markets and Wholesale, where tokenised deposits and programmability can be used to settle trades - like exchanging securities for cash – more quickly and efficiently. At the same time, we’re supporting retail-focused innovation by providing core banking services to digital asset companies, including selected brokers and crypto-enabled payment providers.
While we work on the longer-term future of digital assets, we believe near-term benefits for retail customers will come from wider payment innovation that supports everyday spending. We are working with the industry on the next generation of infrastructure that will provide more choice and control in different payment methods such as open banking and account-to-account transactions. We will continue to improve the speed and transparency of cross-border solutions, helping to make everyday banking easy and future-proof.
As the financial landscape continues to shift, and customer expectations increasingly evolve, we’re investing and innovating to shape the future of payments, while managing growing operational and regulatory demands. Introducing new forms of money will inevitably require greater resilience, yet the direction of travel is clear – we’re moving towards a “multi-money” world, and we need to be ready.
That also means considering the risks. Fragmentation across systems, standards and forms of money could undermine the very progress this innovation aims to achieve. That’s why it’s essential we approach this future with collaboration, clarity, and a deep focus on delivering the right outcomes for our customers.
