On Monday, Euroclear, a securities clearing firm that claims it has over 37.6 trillion euros in assets under custody, announced an investment into Fnality, a consortium of financial institutions focused on the regulated adoption of tokenized assets and marketplaces, for an undisclosed amount. Meanwhile, Euroclear is also focusing on developing its distributed ledger technology, or DLT, to settle digital securities against digital cash through the partnership.
The solution aims to increase the speed and efficiency of post-trade operations in areas such as market issuance, collateral trades and servicing interest payments. Founded in 2019, Fnality International said that it seeks to improve the efficiency of central banks for payment settlements. Its notable shareholders include Barclays, CIBC, Credit Suisse, ING, Mizuho Bank Nasdaq and UBS. Regarding the development, CEO of Fnality International Rhomaios Ram said:
"Welcoming Euroclear Group as an investor into the Fnality International consortium will significantly enhance the diversification of Fnality’s network and expand our footprint around Financial Market Infrastructure."
Meanwhile, Lieve Mostrey, CEO of Euroclear Group, added: "We are pleased to be working with Fnality and our clients in shaping a solution on wholesale digital cash and digital securities settlement for the benefit of the whole industry.” Previously, Euroclear had led a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, experiment to settle French government bonds on the DLT in a partnership with the Banque de France. The Euroclear Group settled the equivalent of 992 trillion euros (roughly $1.09 quadrillion) in securities transactions in 2021 across 295 million transactions.