Through the Parior network, the bank has successfully completed a cross-border transaction in euros, enabling payments for customer transactions with Siemens AG and iFAST Financial Pte Ltd between Singapore and Hong Kong.

The transaction is billed by Standard Chartered's global head of cash management, Mahesh Kini, as a major turning point in the operationalization and integration of distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based transaction workflows within the bank's main financial systems in an actual business environment.

"Our partnership with Partior to be the first Euro settlement bank to launch on the network brings us closer to our goal of providing real time, 24/7 flows at scale for corporates and financial institutions, while meeting their treasury needs in a safe and efficient manner," he says. "We understand the real transformation that blockchain-enabled solutions can deliver to the industry and broader ecosystem."

A DLT business founded by DBS, Temasek, and JPMorgan to challenge the laborious hub-and-spoke mechanism used for conventional cross-border payment flow, Partior received funding from Standard Chartered in 2022.

Partior's foundation is Project Ubin, a blockchain-based prototype for multi-currency payments created by Temasek, JPMorgan, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

"The onboarding of Standard Chartered expands Partior's network coverage to include the Euro, in addition to US Dollars and Singapore Dollars, and enhances connectivity for end clients serviced across major financial centers including Singapore, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, London, and New York," said Humphrey Valenbreder, chief executive officer of Partior.