More than 40 private sector financial firms, convened by the Institute of International Finance, will join the Bank for International Settlements and a group of leading central banks in Project Agorá to explore how tokenisation can enhance wholesale cross-border payments.

The BIS and the IIF selected a diverse set of firms from applicants that met the eligibility requirements and other criteria laid out in the public call for participation.

Participating firms must be regulated in a participating jurisdiction as a commercial bank, payment services provider, or financial market infrastructure company; be significantly involved in cross-border payments; and have innovation expertise. These firms represent a diversity of private sector partners in terms of business models, institution size, expertise and geography.

Participating private sector institutions are: (in bolt the Swiss one’s)

• Amina Bank
• Banco Santander
• Banorte
• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise
• Basler Kantonalbank
• BBVA
• BNP Paribas
• BNY
• CaixaBank
• Citi
• Crédit Agricole CIB
• Deutsche Bank AG
• Eurex Clearing AG
• Euroclear S.A./N.V.
• FNBO
• Groupe BPCE
• Hana Bank
• HSBC
• IBK
• Intercam Banco
• JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A.
• KB Kookmin Bank
• Lloyds Banking Group
• Mastercard
• Mizuho Bank
• Monex
• MUFG Bank Ltd.
• NatWest Group
• NongHyup Bank
• PostFinance Ltd.
• SBI Shinsei Bank Ltd.
• Shinhan Bank
• SIX Digital Exchange (SDX)
• Standard Chartered
• Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
• Swift
• Sygnum Bank
• TD Bank N.A.
• UBS
• Visa
• Woori Bank

Project Agorá will now begin the design phase of the project.

Project Agorá (Greek for “marketplace”) is structured as a public-private collaboration. It brings together seven central banks: Bank of France (representing the Eurosystem), Bank of Japan, Bank of Korea, Bank of Mexico, Swiss National Bank, Bank of England and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. They will work in partnership with the selected financial firms, and the IIF will act as the private sector convener.