Tom Zschach: The Swift Ledger Is Live And Banks Are Already Using It (Faster Than Anyone Expected)

SWIFT’s first live Ledger workflow allows banks to make cross-border payments to one another using their own deposit tokens. Tom Zschach said the workflow had recently gone live, and that both banks’ demand and the pace from announcement to delivery were notable. The Ledger was announced in Frankfurt about a year before the discussion. He emphasized that reaching a live workflow did not mean it had been rushed or cut short.

For participating banks, the Ledger adds an option rather than replacing existing payment rails. Members can choose whether to use it, and adoption does not require them to change how they already use SWIFT. The distinction matters: the new workflow provides another route for payments while leaving banks’ existing arrangements available. Zschach described it as an addition to the network, not a forced migration to a new system.

Zschach characterized SWIFT as a network connecting financial institutions, market infrastructures, corporates, and banks across different business models. Citing Javier, he said it connects 200 countries and more than 40,000 corridors. In his account, cross-border payments need more than speed and lower cost: they also depend on certainty, compliance, standardized procedures, and clear ways to handle problems. Those requirements shape the role SWIFT says it can play as token-based payment activity develops.

The Ledger uses blockchain technology on top of SWIFT’s network, but SWIFT does not settle transactions, custody assets, or issue tokens. Its role is to orchestrate transactions between member institutions and support settlement workflows. Participants choose where settlement takes place, which could be a central-bank system or a blockchain such as Ethereum or Solana. The setup therefore separates coordination across institutions from the venue where assets ultimately settle.

Zschach’s illustrative example involved one bank sending a stablecoin while another sends a tokenized deposit, with settlement occurring on a venue selected by the participants. He also said token swaps across currencies could enable “real-time FX” if that is what participants agree to. These are possibilities within a participant-defined workflow, not decisions made by SWIFT: the network does not choose the settlement venue or prescribe the assets used. The value proposition described is coordination across institutions while leaving those choices to the parties involved.

Zschach said a payment scheme announced alongside the Ledger is intended to improve existing payments and has had success, though he did not provide further details in the synopsis. He expects SWIFT’s roadmap to remain busy over the next couple of years. His broader view is that partnerships are the most likely way for financial institutions to make sustainable progress, with SWIFT helping coordinate partners in a neutral, safe, secure, and standardized way. The Ledger’s early live workflow is evidence of implementation, but the account does not specify how many banks are using it or how widely it will be adopted.