Amundi, a European asset manager, has launched tokenised share classes for its short-term money market fund to enable real-time liquidity management for digital payments provider Ant International.
Developed in partnership with asset servicing leader CACEIS, the bespoke euro and US dollar-denominated share classes mark the first operational milestones under an agreement signed between the companies last November.
The tripartite initiative allows Ant International to use digital fund shares for its intra-group treasury operations. CACEIS supports the mechanism by serving as both the transfer agent and tokenisation agent for the fund.
The implementation aims to improve the efficiency of digital corporate treasury operations by moving traditional fund investments onto the blockchain.
“We are delighted to support Ant International in this pioneering project and to further advance the real-world applications of tokenisation in investment solutions,”
said Fannie Wurtz, Deputy General Manager, Head of Client Group and Chair of Asia at Amundi.
Wurtz added that the collaboration reflects the firm’s goal to meet the evolving needs of sophisticated institutional clients.
Ant International has used blockchain infrastructure for its internal treasury management since 2019. The digital payments provider aims to build an environment for instant, borderless money movement.
“We believe blockchain and AI can unlock real-time solutions for global corporate treasurers,”
said Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech and Senior Vice President at Ant International.
“We are glad to work with Amundi to co-develop secure, compliant investment products accessible 24/7 globally.”
Following the initial roll-out, the three institutions are exploring the integration of the short-term money market fund with Whale, which is Ant International’s proprietary blockchain-based treasury management platform.
The planned expansion aims to onboard Amundi funds directly onto the Whale network to co-develop new money market solutions tailored for corporate treasurers globally.
Amundi and Ant International are also looking into expanding the digital solution to additional markets and currencies.
The companies stated that the deployment of these upcoming advancements remains subject to all necessary legal and regulatory approvals.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by Ant International
