Lloyds Completes Live Tokenised Deposit Transactions Under Project Agorá

Lloyds Banking Group has achieved a significant milestone in the development of tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits. The company completed three live tokenized deposit transactions under Project Agorá's Real-Value Testing programme, marking a step towards actual settlement risk and value.

The transactions involved sterling, euro, and Swiss franc scenarios, with the most technically significant being a cross-currency trade where Lloyds' Corporate Markets business converted Swiss francs into sterling. This process combined FX conversion, payment, and settlement in a single linked flow, reducing friction and settlement risk in wholesale payments.

Peter Left, Head of Digital and Markets Innovation at Lloyds Banking Group, emphasized the importance of this testing phase: 'This testing has allowed us to bring together our payments, settlement, and foreign exchange capabilities in a cross-currency transaction. It gives us valuable practical insight into how tokenisation could help reduce friction and settlement risk in wholesale payments.'

Project Agorá is a public-private collaboration between central banks and private financial institutions exploring the feasibility of shared programmable platforms for tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits.