Payward and Singapore Gulf Bank Launch 24/7 Settlement Service for Institutional Clients

Payward, the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has launched a 24/7 settlement service for institutional clients in Asia and the Gulf, in partnership with Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB). The service allows selected clients to settle U.S. dollar transactions at any hour through SGB's real-time, multi-currency clearing network, known as SGB Net.

The initial rollout covers U.S. dollars and a limited group of institutional customers in supported jurisdictions. SGB Net processes more than $20 billion in fiat transactions each month, according to the companies.

The partnership forms part of Payward's Banking infrastructure, which handles cash movement across deposits, payments, cards, custody, and lending. Payward has pursued regulated banking connections to expand its institutional expansion, including a similar 24/7 settlement partnership with SoFi in September.

SGB will use Kraken Prime as an additional source of digital-asset liquidity through the partnership, while Payward will provide SGB with access to its markets for pricing trades for its customers.

Mark Greenberg, Payward's Chief Commercial Officer, described the problem of settlement times mismatching trading hours as 'settlement stops when the business day does.'