On November 17, 2025, the financial and technology sectors witnessed a significant stride in modernizing global finance as Swiss banking giant UBS and Ant International, the global arm of Ant Group, formalized a strategic partnership. This collaboration is centered on deploying blockchain technology to transform corporate treasury management and cross-border payments, moving them from processes that take days to settlements that occur in seconds.
A Partnership Forged for Speed and Transparency
The core of this alliance is a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in Singapore, where the two companies will explore innovations in blockchain-based tokenized deposits. Ant International will integrate UBS Digital Cash—a blockchain payment platform the bank piloted in 2024—into its global operations.
This platform will be connected with Ant’s proprietary, next-generation treasury management system, the Whale platform. The combined solution is designed to enable real-time, multi-currency fund flows between Ant International’s global entities. A key benefit is the removal of friction caused by traditional banking cut-off times, allowing for better global liquidity management regardless of time zones.
Young Jin Yee, Co-Head of UBS Global Wealth Management Asia Pacific, emphasized that the goal is to “deliver a real-time, multi-currency payment solution that sets standards for transparency and efficiency”. This sentiment was echoed by Kelvin Li, Global Manager of Platform Tech at Ant International, who highlighted the shared belief in the potential of this technology to transform cross-border payments.
The Bigger Picture: Tokenization and Institutional Adoption
This partnership is not an isolated event but part of a broader and accelerating trend of institutional adoption of digital assets. Ant International has emerged as a pivotal early adopter of tokenized deposits, having already integrated similar blockchain solutions from other major global banks like HSBC, Standard Chartered, and DBS.
The move reflects a growing institutional conviction that technologies like tokenized deposits and stablecoins can address long-standing inefficiencies in the traditional payment infrastructure. These legacy systems often involve batch processing and delays that create “float”—capital locked in transit that is inaccessible to both sender and receiver. Blockchain solutions promise to unlock this time value by enabling instant, 24/7 settlement.
This collaboration also aligns with Ant Group’s wider ambitions in the digital asset space. The company is participating in regulatory sandboxes like the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian and is reportedly evaluating stablecoin licensing in several jurisdictions.
The partnership between UBS and Ant International represents a concrete step toward a future where corporate treasury and cross-border payments are instantaneous, transparent, and efficient. It underscores a maturing ecosystem where leading financial institutions and tech companies are collaboratively building the next generation of financial infrastructure on the blockchain.
