Intesa Sanpaolo in the SWIFT platform trial to connect markets and DLT

The results of the trial of the new SWIFT platform confirmed that integrating DLT infrastructures into post‑trade processes can translate into tangible benefits for market participants.

For a bank operating as a custodian and paying agent, the management of tokenized financial instruments—such as equities, bonds, or funds issued in token form (i.e. digital tokens on DLT)—opens up concrete opportunities in terms of:

• cost reduction
• operational efficiency
• faster settlement times (the settlement phase being the final stage of a financial transaction in which securities and cash are definitively exchanged between the parties).

Intesa Sanpaolo’s participation in the trial forms part of the innovation journey in tokenized capital markets that the Bank has undertaken in recent years, as part of its exploration of new technologies for settlement in European Central Bank money (Wholesale Central Bank Money Settlement).

Intesa Sanpaolo’s contribution represents a further confirmation of the Bank’s leading role in international initiatives focused on innovation in capital markets, as well as of its commitment to the development of digital finance solutions at a global level.

DLT refers to systems based on a distributed ledger within a shared network, where all nodes (computers or connected devices) hold the same copy of a database and can therefore read and update it independently.

Updates are carried out through encrypted consensus algorithms, which enable network participants to agree on the changes made, ensuring the security, immutability, and reliability of the ledger.