Former Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe is to chair Fnality’s UK board as the bank-backed blockchain payments company seeks approval to extend its central bank money settlement network beyond sterling.
Former Deutsche Bundesbank payments executive Jochen Metzger has joined the supervisory board of Fnality Europe and is expected to become its chair. Ron Berndsen, previously head of oversight and head of market infrastructures policy at De Nederlandsche Bank, has also joined the Germany-based European business’s supervisory board.
The appointments place three former central bank officials in Fnality’s governance structure as banks develop systems for settling tokenized securities and transferring digital money across blockchain networks.
Fnality runs a blockchain-based wholesale payments system that enables participating financial institutions to settle obligations using money backed by central bank funds. Its regulated Sterling Fnality Payment System launched in 2023 and is overseen by the Bank of England.
The London-based company is seeking regulatory approval for dollar- and euro-denominated versions of the network.
Cunliffe was previously the Bank of England’s deputy governor for financial stability, with responsibility including financial market infrastructure and payment systems. Metzger served as director general for payments and settlement systems at Deutsche Bundesbank, while Berndsen worked on oversight and market infrastructure policy at the Dutch central bank.
“It is really important that we find a way to get central banks and central bank money at the heart of the new technologies that were pioneered in the crypto world,” Cunliffe said in an interview.
Fnality was founded in 2019 and is backed by financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, UBS, Banco Santander, Bank of America and Citigroup.
The company raised $136 million in Series C funding in September 2025, taking its total funding since 2019 to more than $280 million. WisdomTree, Bank of America, Citi, KBC Group, Temasek and Tradeweb led or participated in the round alongside existing investors including Goldman Sachs, Santander, UBS and Euroclear.
Fnality said the funding would support the expansion of its sterling system into other currencies, as well as liquidity management tools and links with stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
It had earlier raised $95 million in Series B funding in 2023 in a round led by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas. Euroclear, DTCC, WisdomTree and Nomura also took part, while Santander, BNY Mellon, Barclays, ING, Lloyds Banking Group, State Street and UBS were existing backers.
Demand for digital settlement
Banks are increasingly exploring tokenization, in which assets such as stocks and bonds are represented and transferred on blockchain infrastructure. Fnality’s sterling network has been used for real-time delivery-versus-payment settlement of tokenized securities, payment-versus-payment foreign exchange transactions and repo deals.
The company’s model uses central bank-backed money for wholesale settlement, rather than relying solely on stablecoins or commercial bank deposits.
Swift moved its blockchain ledger into deployment in July, with 17 global banks preparing to test tokenized deposit payments for 24-hour cross-border settlement. HSBC, Citi, BNP Paribas, UBS, ANZ, DBS and Standard Chartered were among the participants.
In August, HSBC and Standard Chartered completed the first live interbank transaction through the ledger, linking separate tokenized deposit systems. The network matched and netted payment obligations before final settlement through existing banking infrastructure.
Tokenized deposits are digital versions of commercial bank deposits, with the underlying funds remaining on the issuing bank’s balance sheet. Stablecoins are generally issued by companies and backed by reserve assets, while Fnality links wholesale settlement to central bank balances.
Wells Fargo said in August it planned to launch tokenized deposits for selected corporate and commercial clients, initially supporting US dollar-to-British pound transactions. It expects to add clients, currencies and countries during 2027.
JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are also working through The Clearing House on a shared tokenized deposit network, with a launch targeted for the first half of 2027.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said four MUFG companies would work with Digital Asset and Progmat on a blockchain test for Japanese government bond repo transactions using Canton Network. Japan’s Financial Services Agency selected the project for its Payment Innovation Project pilot programme in February.
Fnality’s UK network differs by placing central bank-backed money directly within its wholesale payments framework as the company works through the approvals needed for dollar and euro payments.
