UK Finance Leaders Expect Tokenization to Reshape Financial Services, Survey Finds

Nearly three quarters of major UK financial institutions, 71% in all, expect tokenization to reshape financial services. The finding comes from Lloyds Banking Group’s annual survey of 100 senior decision-makers at large UK banks, insurers, asset managers and financial sponsors. Faster payments and settlement were named as the top benefit by 60% of respondents, while 41% pointed to better collateral and liquidity management. Lloyds added that moving assets and payments onto digital infrastructure could release capital and liquidity currently tied up in transactions.

Lloyds Tests Tokenized Deposits on a Public Blockchain

Rob Hale, co-head of global markets at Lloyds, said the next step is turning individual use cases into infrastructure that works at scale, with shared standards linking digital and traditional markets. The bank has already tried the technology itself. Working with Archax and Canton Network, it carried out what it called the UK’s first public blockchain transaction, using tokenized deposits to buy a tokenized UK government bond.

UK Builds Infrastructure for Tokenized Finance

Policymakers are pushing tokenization beyond pilots. In May, the Bank of England proposed extending its core settlement system toward near-24/7 availability, and a government payments blueprint called for tokenized and traditional money to work together. In July, an industry task force estimated that tokenized finance leadership could add up to 33 billion pounds ($44 billion) a year to UK output by 2035, and urged a first tokenized government bond by early 2027.

US and UK Coordinate on Tokenized Assets

Also in July, the US and UK treasuries recommended a private-sector group to test cross-border uses of tokenized assets and urged regulators to find shared approaches.