Great Britain Prepares Financial Markets for Tokenization
The Bank of England has proposed extending the operating hours of its core settlement infrastructure to a near 24/7 regime. This initiative is being implemented in collaboration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to align UK wholesale markets with a tokenized financial system. This is reported by Cointelegraph.com reports .
Under the new proposal, the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Clearing House Automated Payment System (CHAPS) will operate on weekends and extended business hours. The Bank of England noted that these changes will accelerate cross-border payments and support new settlement models as tokenization develops.
The FCA believes that distributed ledger technologies and tokenization will make the asset management sector more efficient. Katie Harries, Head of European Policy at Coinbase, praised the move, noting that it will open new doors for individuals with limited access to capital markets.
Meanwhile, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has issued new guidance for bank executives. According to it, if tokenized financial instruments are deemed legally and operationally equivalent to traditional instruments, they will be regulated under the same framework. These rules serve as a temporary basis until the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) finalizes standards for crypto-assets.
