The application was developed for Project Guardian, an initiative in collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the financial industry. The application utilises blockchain infrastructure to facilitate the pricing and execution of bilateral spot foreign exchange (FX) trades. In its initial phase, the application focused on testing spot FX for USD/SGD, but the underlying solution has the potential for application with any fiat currency pair according to the official press release. At the time of writing, the application is not available to clients.
In the company press release, officials from Citi emphasised the institution's commitment to building foundational capabilities for providing liquidity, pricing, and risk management globally, whether through traditional channels or blockchain.
Citi's on-chain solution offers real-time streaming of price quotes, with trade executions recorded on a blockchain. This supports immutable, cryptographically secure record-keeping of trade data, promoting compliance with institutional practices and relevant regulatory requirements. Access to the underlying trade details is restricted to counterparties involved in the quote or trade.
The application's request for streaming (RFS) explores the use of oracles for bilateral messaging, enabling best execution analysis through real-time post-trade assessment on a unified platform. Citi officials talked about the general objective of driving improvements throughout the entire trade life cycle, including pre-trade and execution, while acknowledging the potential of blockchain for streamlining post-trade processes.
Citi collaborated with T. Rowe Price Associates and Fidelity International within the Project Guardian initiative. Representatives from T. Rowe Price Associates highlighted the significance of developing user-friendly institutional-grade execution for future scalability.
The application utilised a private permissioned instance of the Avalanche blockchain during the current phase to capture price quotes and trade confirmations specific to each counterparty.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore's Project Guardian is a collaborative initiative with the financial industry focused on testing the feasibility of applications in asset tokenization and DeFi while managing risks to financial stability and integrity.
Citi is a prominent banking partner for institutions with cross-border needs, as well as a known entity in wealth management and a valued personal bank in the United States. Operating in nearly 160 countries and jurisdictions, Citi provides a selection of financial products and services to corporations, governments, investors, institutions, and individuals.
In September 2023, Citi introduced a set of four payment solutions addressed to its financial institution clients. According to the press release, the new set of functionalities is introduced as part of Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) services. The four payment capabilities were designed to improve the client experience that financial institutions extend and can reportedly be used with minimal or no implementation work or technology build.
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