Singapore-based bank DBS announced Wednesday that it has become the first bank in Asia to complete an intraday repurchase transaction on J.P. Morgan’s intraday repurchase application on Onyx Digital Assets, a blockchain based network which supports instant settlements and maturity of the transactions within hours instead of the current industry norm of one to two working days.  

“Repurchase agreements or repos are a traditional and well-established method of raising financing, but infrastructural and technical inefficiencies meant the minimum term has usually been one day. In the past, banks around the world had to explore alternative routes for intraday financing requirements,

“Through leveraging efficiencies of a blockchain-based solution, we are able to raise USD funding in compressed timeframes which are beneficial to our liquidity needs,” DBS Treasury and Markets Head Andrew Ng said in a statement.

As a bank that is known to be at the forefront of digital transformation, he said the bank will continue to leverage leading technologies to provide market participants with accelerated access to liquidity coupled with better risk management.
 
According to the statement, the transaction enables instant, atomic settlements and allows repo transactions to be traded, settled, and matured within hours, rather than the current industry norm of one to two working days. 

“Our intraday repo solution helps clients boost operational efficiencies and accelerate settlement times for their repo activities. We are excited to have our first Asia-domiciled client live on the application, as the network continues to grow,” said Scott Lucas, Head of Markets Distributed ledger Technology at J.P. Morgan.

Ed Bond, Head of Trading Services Asia Pacific at J.P. Morgan said, this is the first time that J.P. Morgan is acting as both Triparty Agent and Collateral Token Agent, which is an exciting development for the market.

“DBS has been a great partner on this project and we will continue looking at ways to innovate and help our clients navigate market challenges,” he added.

DBS is Asia’s leading financial services group, with a presence in 18 countries. The bank is headquartered and registered in Singapore and is within the three main growth axes of Asia: China, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
 
The bank provides a full range of services in consumer, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and corporate banking.

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