South Africa-based Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking has entered into a strategic collaboration with Kinexys by J.P. Morgan. Under the agreement, Standard Bank gains access to the Kinexys Blockchain Deposit Account network, which it intends to use for payments for clients operating across Africa and in other markets.
According to the announcement, the collaboration is designed to support faster payment flows in the near term while laying the groundwork for programmable transactions at a later stage. Standard Bank presents the move as part of a wider effort to modernise its financial infrastructure.
Scope of the collaboration
Standard Bank plans to combine the Kinexys infrastructure with its existing African footprint and transaction banking capabilities. The arrangement creates scope for the bank to pilot blockchain-based, near real-time settlement for both cross-border payments and intra-group transfers. The announcement does not specify a timeline for these pilots.
Kinexys reports more than USD 4 trillion in cumulative transactions since its inception, with an average daily transaction volume of USD 7 billion. Akshika Gupta, Global Head of Product Sales and Solutions at Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, said the collaboration illustrates how blockchain-based payment rails can enable 24/7 money movement, alongside liquidity management and transactional services for organisations operating globally.
Client demand and cross-border flows
Richard de Roos, Group Payments Head of Standard Bank, linked the initiative to changing client requirements, noting that as businesses become more interconnected, the ability to move funds quickly, securely, and efficiently across markets has grown in importance. The bank positions the collaboration as support for trade and investment flows across the markets in which it operates.
The same official said that building on established global infrastructure allows the bank to extend its current payment capabilities while creating a platform for future developments in payments, liquidity management, and transactional services. Furthermore, he also described the collaboration as one stage in a longer process, with the bank continuing to explore emerging payment solutions.
Implications for African payments
The agreement has two layers. In the immediate term, it gives Standard Bank’s corporate clients access to faster payment flows via an existing blockchain deposit network. Over a longer horizon, the same infrastructure is intended to support programmable payments, in which transaction logic can be built into how funds move.
The planned pilots of near real-time cross-border and intra-group settlement are particularly relevant for multinational clients managing liquidity across several African markets, where moving funds between entities and jurisdictions remains a central treasury concern. Access to a network that operates around the clock also addresses the constraints of settlement tied to conventional banking hours.
Standard Bank states that it continues to invest in digital capabilities intended to support client growth and cross-border commerce, and to position Africa to participate in the evolution of global payment ecosystems. The collaboration links an Africa-focused transaction bank with blockchain-based payment infrastructure operated by a global bank, an approach that reflects how banks are adopting tokenised deposit networks through partnerships rather than building them independently.
