The banks are part of a consortium of 42 major lenders, brought together last year by New York-based software company R3 to work on ways blockchain technology could be used in financial markets - the first time so many have collaborated on using such systems.
Banks reckon the technology could save them money by cutting out middlemen and making their operations more transparent. But analysts caution it is early days - Bitcoin was invented just six years ago and blockchain experiments are still under way.
For this test, R3 used a Microsoft platform, which runs on a blockchain built by Ethereum, a non-profit organisation.They were able to settle the transactions almost instantaneously. That compares to settlement times of days or even weeks, depending on the asset class, under the current systems used by banks.
R3 Managing Director Charley Cooper said the technology could be used by banks to transfer real assets within the next one or two years.
The other eight banks involved in the experiment were BMO Financial Group, Credit Suisse, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Natixis, Royal Bank of Scotland, TD Bank, UniCredit and Wells Fargo - all members of the R3 consortium.
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