LONDON, March 6, 2026, 09:43 GMT
Standard Chartered is stepping up its tokenised finance activity, taking on digital-asset custody duties for TP ICAP’s Fusion Digital Assets while also bringing in ex-JPMorgan Kinexys executive Naveen Mallela to oversee payments. With these latest moves, the bank extends its footprint in digital asset custody, settlement, and payments.
Timing is key here. On Thursday, U.S. regulators said banks won’t have to stump up extra capital for tokenised securities. Just last month, Britain picked HSBC’s platform to run a pilot for digital government bonds. Together, those moves give policy support to tokenised finance — the process of moving traditional assets or cash claims onto the blockchain as digital tokens — which advocates argue could make settlement faster and allow trading around the clock.
TP ICAP named Standard Chartered as digital-asset custodian and settlement agent for Fusion Digital Assets, the UK crypto trading platform that’s set to shift to a matched-principal model in March. Under the new arrangement, TP ICAP steps in as intermediary—standing between buyer and seller, acting as counterparty on each side.
The broker says this setup means clients won’t have to put up cash in advance; they can trade now and settle afterward, potentially lowering the risk of incomplete trades. According to TP ICAP, the same approach is already standard in its broader markets business, which handled over $200 trillion in notional value in 2025. Looking ahead, Fusion is eyeing stablecoins, more fiat currencies, and additional digital tokens tied to conventional assets.
Standard Chartered’s global head of financing and securities services, Margaret Harwood-Jones, said the bank’s tools would let TP ICAP “scale its matched principal activity securely and efficiently.” For TP ICAP, digital assets global co-head Duncan Trenholme described the move as a “key milestone,” noting it enables the firm to settle blockchain-based assets through its own accounts for the first time. Standard Chartered Bank
Standard Chartered is doubling down on the strategy, tapping Mallela as global head of payments. He’s set to oversee an integrated group spanning collections, clearing, and payments, driving development both in conventional payment streams and tokenised offerings tracked on blockchain networks. Roberto Hoornweg called his expertise “pivotal.” Standard Chartered Bank
The move ups the stakes in the competition. Mallela joins from JPMorgan’s Kinexys, the blockchain arm handling real-time cross-border payments and digital asset settlement for the American bank. HSBC, meanwhile, is providing the tech behind the UK’s digital government bond pilot.
Standard Chartered has already made its mark in the sector. The bank rolled out institutional spot trading for bitcoin and ether—immediate-delivery—via its UK branch in July 2025, and kicked off digital-asset custody in the UAE back in 2024, onboarding Brevan Howard Digital as its first client.
Building on a firmer profit platform, the bank posted a full-year pretax profit of $6.96 billion, up 16%. It also rolled out a $1.5 billion share buyback. CEO Bill Winters, for his part, said he plans to remain in charge as the bank moves into its next strategic chapter.
Still, the rollout isn’t without its hurdles. Ryan Rugg at Citi noted tokenisation has “taken longer” than hoped. BNP Paribas’ Julien Clausse pointed to “fragmentation” as another drag—investors, he said, shy away from having to hook up to multiple networks. And on Thursday, Reuters flagged yet another roadblock for U.S. crypto legislation, quoting Stifel’s Brian Gardner: “the calendar is becoming the enemy” of the bill. Reuters
Still, official policy is making slow progress. The Bank of England has indicated it’s willing to accept more tokenised assets as collateral, while LSEG is putting together a blockchain-based settlement service, working with a group that features Standard Chartered, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest, and Brookfield. Standard Chartered, for its part, is focusing on building out custody, settlement, and payments capabilities as the market holds off, watching to see if real volumes will extend past trial runs.
