Siam Commercial Bank has gone live with Citi’s integrated 24/7 USD Clearing and Citi Token Services solution, becoming the first financial institution client worldwide to adopt the combined offering. The rollout gives Thai corporate and institutional clients near real-time cross-border USD settlement outside standard banking hours, including weekends and public holidays.
Key Facts At A Glance
- Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) is the first financial institution client globally to go live with Citi’s integrated 24/7 USD Clearing and Citi Token Services solution
- The service enables near real-time cross-border USD payments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
- Citi Token Services uses a private permissioned blockchain to tokenise deposits held within Citi’s regulated global network
- Citi’s 24/7 USD Clearing network connects more than 300 financial institutions across over 50 markets
- The first live transaction moved USD funds from a Citi London account held by Phillip Capital Inc to a beneficiary account at SCB in Thailand, held by Phillip Securities Thailand, over a US holiday weekend
- SCB describes itself as the first bank in Thailand to apply tokenisation to cross-border USD capabilities
- The launch is framed as supporting the Bank of Thailand’s broader push toward a modernised, interoperable financial system
Siam Commercial Bank has become Citi’s first financial institution client anywhere to go live with an integrated 24/7 USD Clearing and Citi Token Services solution, the two firms said. The arrangement lets corporate and institutional clients initiate and receive US dollar payments at any hour, including weekends and public holidays, addressing settlement delays tied to traditional banking cut-off times.
How The Service Works
Citi Token Services runs on a private permissioned blockchain that operates entirely within Citi’s regulated banking system, tokenising deposits held across the bank’s global network. That tokenised layer has now been linked to Citi’s existing 24/7 USD Clearing infrastructure, which connects more than 300 financial institutions across over 50 markets, according to Citi. The combination is designed to give clients near-instant settlement regardless of time zone or local market cut-off, rather than waiting for the next business day.
Citi describes the approach as part of a “network of networks” strategy intended to make its payment rails interoperable across multiple banks, markets and networks, rather than confined to Citi-to-Citi transfers.
First Transaction Completed Over A Holiday Weekend
The initial transaction under the new setup involved Phillip Securities Thailand, a subsidiary of PhillipCapital and an SCB client. USD funds were transferred from a Citi account in London held by Phillip Capital Inc, another PhillipCapital subsidiary, to the beneficiary account at SCB in Thailand, with the transfer completed over a US holiday weekend. Executives from both banks pointed to the transaction as evidence that tokenised deposits can support live, cross-border settlement outside conventional banking windows rather than remaining confined to pilot programmes.
Strategic Context For SCB And Citi
For SCB, the adoption is described as a strategic investment in next-generation payment infrastructure and forms part of a broader effort to modernise transaction banking services for businesses with international payment needs. SCB executives said the bank is now the first in Thailand to apply tokenisation to cross-border USD capabilities.
For Citi, the rollout marks a further milestone in its digital assets and 24/7 clearing strategy, following several years in which blockchain-based payment tools across the banking industry have largely remained limited to pilots or internal use cases. By linking tokenised deposits to a live, client-facing cross-border clearing service, Citi is positioning the offering as a practical commercial application of the technology rather than an experimental one.
The development also feeds into Thailand’s wider digital financial infrastructure agenda, with cross-border settlement remaining a particular focus for banks and regulators across Asia given the region’s dependence on the US dollar for trade and treasury flows.