Standard Chartered has issued digitally native notes amounting to US$200 million on Euroclear's Digital Financial Market Infrastructure ( D-FMI ), marking another milestone in the development of digital capital markets.
The landmark issuance makes Standard Chartered the first global systemically important bank ( G-SIB ) and the first UK issuer on the D-FMI. Application has been made for the notes to be admitted for trading on the International Securities Market of the London Stock Exchange.
The three-year floating-rate notes were issued using distributed ledger technology ( DLT ), which enables the issuance of digital international securities within a regulated market infrastructure, while maintaining connectivity to established issuance, settlement, and servicing processes. Standard Chartered acted as sole dealer for the offering.
The transaction demonstrates how DLT can be embedded within existing market infrastructure to support more efficient and interoperable issuance processes. It also builds on the bank’s experience of supporting clients on pioneering digital bond transactions and extends that capability to the bank’s own funding programme.
“This transaction reflects our continued focus on modernizing the bank's funding capabilities through the responsible adoption of new technologies,” says Standard Chartered deputy group treasurer Vikash Mistry. “Having previously supported clients on digital bond issuances, we are pleased to now apply those capabilities to our own funding activities, helping advance a more scalable and repeatable.”
Standard Chartered has played key roles in several landmark digital debt capital market transactions globally. These include acting as joint digital structurer and joint lead manager for Emirates NBD's digital bond issuance amounting to 1 billion dirhams ( US$272.29 million ) on the D-FMI, as well as serving as the sole lead manager for Doha Bank's US$150 million digital bond issuance with instant settlement.
