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- Global Custody Pro - 29 August 2025
Global Custody Pro - 29 August 2025
SWIFT, Ant, Standard Chartered, Aave and more
Global Custody Pro
August 28, 2025 • Reading Time: 6 minutes
📰 Welcome to the Newsletter
Welcome to Global Custody Pro, read by custody professionals like you. I'm Brennan McDonald, Managing Editor. I write about the global custody industry, having spent over 12 years in financial services, including working at a global custody bank. An AI voice reads the audio version of this newsletter. Have feedback? Just reply to this email or connect with us on LinkedIn.
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🌏 Global Custody News
RBA Payments Board Flags Critical ASX CHESS Concerns
The Reserve Bank of Australia's Payments System Board expressed significant concerns about ASX's management of critical market infrastructure at its August meeting, agreeing on additional regulatory measures for the CHESS Replacement system following December 2024's batch failure incident. The Board's annual assessment found ASX has made limited progress addressing operational resilience issues over the past year.
The Board emphasised that ASX must urgently improve its governance and risk culture, noting that the successful delivery of current risk management and technology initiatives is crucial for maintaining services critical to Australian financial stability. Members also discussed oversight of international financial market infrastructures engaged in complex transformation programs, highlighting growing reliance on a small number of third-party service providers.
Beyond ASX issues, the Board endorsed research into system-wide payments resilience and discussed challenges in cash distribution, supporting proposed regulations to ensure cash availability, including in rural Australia. Members also reviewed stakeholder feedback on proposed merchant card payment regulations and discussed the global stablecoin market growth, welcoming government reforms for the regulation of stored-value facilities.
SWIFT, Ant, Standard Chartered Launch Wallet Payments
Ant International, Standard Chartered Bank and Swift have launched live production trials for a bank-to-wallet payment solution using ISO 20022 financial messaging standards. The companies announced that the first transactions were completed successfully between a Standard Chartered Bank customer account and a partner e-wallet through Alipay+, Ant International's global wallet gateway service.
The innovative solution leverages Swift's network of over 11,500 financial institutions across more than 200 countries and territories to connect to 1.7 billion user accounts on the 36 global digital wallets in the Alipay+ ecosystem. Michael Spiegel, Global Head of Transaction Banking at Standard Chartered, said the bank would continue to push boundaries to shape the future of the industry securely and in compliance with regulatory requirements.
Kevin Wong, Chief Executive for Asia Pacific at Swift, said the collaboration reflects a strategic commitment to faster, frictionless payments across multiple networks. Jacques Xu, General Manager of Global Remittance at Ant International, stated that the company will continue to support cross-sector collaboration in building a more connected payment ecosystem with higher standards of transparency and security.
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🚀 Digital Asset News
Aave Launches RWA Lending Market Horizon
Aave Labs has launched Horizon, a new lending market on Ethereum designed to bridge tokenised real-world assets with decentralised finance by enabling institutions to borrow stablecoins against RWA collateral. The platform launches with a network of leading institutions across tokenised assets and stablecoins, supporting collateral from Circle, Superstate, and Centrifuge.
Built on Aave Protocol version 3.3, Horizon operates as a non-custodial lending infrastructure with two distinct user types: qualified institutional investors who can supply RWA collateral and borrow stablecoins, and unrestricted users who can supply stablecoins to earn yield. The platform addresses the current inefficiency where tokenised RWAs remain siloed from DeFi, unable to serve as productive collateral within on-chain capital markets.
The launch includes RWA collateral options from Superstate (USTB for U.S. Treasury exposure and USCC for crypto carry strategies) and Centrifuge (JRTSY for Treasury bills and JAAA for AAA-rated CLOs), with Circle's USYC to be added soon. Chainlink SmartData provides real-time net asset values for collateral, while Llama Risk and Chaos Labs will provide risk management services for the market.
Finastra, Circle Partner on USDC Cross-Border Payments
Finastra and Circle Internet Group announced a strategic collaboration to integrate USDC stablecoin settlement into Finastra's Global PAYplus platform for cross-border payments. The partnership will enable banks to use USDC for settlement while payment instructions remain in traditional fiat currencies on both ends of transactions.
The collaboration connects Finastra's payment infrastructure, which processes over $5 trillion in daily cross-border transactions, with Circle's regulated stablecoin network. Finastra serves more than 8,000 customers globally, including 45 of the world's top 50 banks across 130 countries, providing them with an alternative to traditional correspondent banking chains.
Chris Walters, CEO of Finastra, said the partnership gives banks tools to innovate in cross-border payments without building standalone infrastructure, while Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, noted the collaboration enables financial institutions to launch payment models combining blockchain technology with existing banking systems. The companies did not disclose implementation timelines or specific customer commitments.
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