UK regulators open tokenisation roadmap, target 24/7 wholesale settlement

The Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England on 18 May 2026 launched a joint Call for Input on tokenisation in UK wholesale markets, the clearest signal yet that the two regulators intend to move digital asset infrastructure from sandbox experiments into production. The plan covers prudential treatment, tokenised collateral, settlement instruments and near 24/7 sterling settlement, with industry feedback open until 3 July 2026.

For finance professionals tracking the UK's digital markets agenda, this is the operational handbook that has been missing. Banks, asset managers and market infrastructure providers now have a defined timeline against which to commit budget, hire talent and structure tokenised products.

What did the FCA and Bank of England actually publish?

The two regulators issued a joint Call for Input titled "The future of tokenisation: A joint vision for UK wholesale financial markets," accompanied by three supporting actions:

The Prudential Regulation Authority released Dear CEO letters updating expectations on the capital treatment of tokenised asset exposures and on innovations in deposits, e-money and stablecoins. The Bank of England opened a separate consultation on extending RTGS and CHAPS settlement hours toward near 24/7 operation, with weekend and extended weekday windows phased in subject to industry readiness. The Bank also confirmed it will launch a live synchronisation service targeted for 2028 and will work to allow tokenised equivalents of already eligible assets to function as collateral at central counterparties and

in its own market operations.

A feedback statement is scheduled for summer 2026, after which the regulators will draft a joint roadmap for digital wholesale markets.

Why does the timing matter for UK market infrastructure?

The Call for Input lands on top of a stack of UK initiatives that have accumulated over the past 18 months. The Digital Securities Sandbox, opened jointly by the Bank and FCA in 2024, now has 16 firms working on live issuance and settlement of tokenised assets. HM Treasury's Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) pilot selected HSBC Orion as its platform provider on 12 February 2026, positioning the UK to become the first G7 nation to issue tokenised sovereign debt on a blockchain in a market with more than £2 trillion in outstanding gilts.

The FCA's Policy Statement PS26/7 on fund tokenisation, published in April 2026, set out a direct-to-fund (D2F) dealing model for the UK's £16.5 trillion asset management sector.

The new Call for Input ties these strands together. Until now, firms have had multiple consultations to track and no single statement on how prudential treatment, settlement, collateral eligibility and client asset rules would interlock.

What changes for prudential treatment and collateral?

The PRA's updated guidance signals that tokenised exposures will be assessed on the underlying economic risk rather than the technology wrapper. That is consistent with the Basel Committee framework on cryptoasset exposures finalised in 2022, which treats tokenised traditional assets in the same risk bucket as their conventional equivalents where they meet specified conditions.

On collateral, the Bank's commitment to accept tokenised equivalents of already eligible assets is operationally significant. Central counterparties and the Bank's own facilities currently consume hundreds of billions of pounds in gilt and corporate bond collateral annually. Allowing tokenised versions of those instruments to be posted on distributed ledger rails could compress mobilisation times from hours to minutes and reduce the capital tied up in failed or delayed settlements.

How does near 24/7 settlement reshape sterling wholesale flows?

The proposed extension of RTGS and CHAPS hours is the practical bridge between tokenised assets and tokenised cash. Atomic delivery-versus-payment, the holy grail of DLT settlement, requires a sterling settlement asset that is available when the asset leg is available. With CHAPS currently operating roughly 6am to 6pm on business days, the cash leg is the binding constraint on weekend and cross-border tokenised transactions.

A staged move toward near 24/7 operation also has implications beyond tokenisation: it brings sterling settlement closer to the operating profile of stablecoins and to the time zones of Asian and US institutional flows, addressing a long-standing competitiveness gap that London market participants have flagged in cross-border payments.

What should firms do before the 3 July deadline?

The Call for Input is structured around where existing rules and infrastructure support or constrain safe tokenisation. The FCA has flagged that its approach to client asset (CASS) rules may evolve in response to feedback, an area that has been a particular friction point for firms holding tokenised securities on behalf of clients.

Firms with material exposure to wholesale market infrastructure, asset managers running tokenised fund pilots, custodians, and stablecoin issuers eyeing wholesale settlement use cases have the most to gain from substantive submissions. Feedback closes on 3 July 2026, with the joint feedback statement due in summer 2026.

Why this matters to FinanceX readers

The UK has spent two years assembling the components of a tokenised wholesale market: a sandbox, a digital gilt, a fund tokenisation framework, and a stablecoin regime. The 18 May package is the moment those components start moving in the same direction under a single regulatory vision.

For banks, asset managers and infrastructure providers, the practical question shifts from "will the UK do this?" to "how fast does our operating model need to change?" Near 24/7 sterling settlement by 2028, tokenised collateral acceptance at the Bank, and a clearer prudential perimeter materially change the business case for production-scale tokenisation projects that have been stuck at proof-of-concept since 2023.