UK’s FCA and Bank of England set roadmap for tokenisation and longer settlement hours

The Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England on Monday moved the U.K.’s tokenization agenda from broad support to a more concrete plan for wholesale markets, opening a joint industry consultation while pointing to infrastructure changes that could eventually support much longer settlement hours. The package includes a joint Call for Input, a Bank synchronisation service targeted for 2028, according to the FCA announcement, and staged proposals toward near-24/7 settlement.

The Call for Input, published May 18 as part of a joint “shared vision,” asks for views on how to enable the safe adoption of tokenization in U.K. wholesale financial markets, focused mainly on tokenized securities such as bonds, equities and fund units. Tokenization means creating a digital representation of a real-world asset, such as a share or bond, on a digital ledger. Responses are due by July 3, 2026, and the authorities said they plan to publish a feedback statement in the summer and a full cross-authority roadmap later in 2026.

In parallel, the Bank of England opened a separate consultation on extending settlement hours for RTGS, its real-time gross settlement service, and CHAPS, the high-value payment system it operates. The Bank said CHAPS will open earlier, at 1:30 a.m., from September 2027.

Beyond that confirmed step, the Bank set out two medium-term proposals, both subject to consultation and industry readiness. One would add an additional settlement day, most likely Sundays, and some bank holidays, no earlier than 2029. The other would lengthen the daily settlement window, no earlier than 2031. Those changes have not been finalized.

The regulatory side is also becoming more specific. The FCA said firms have asked for more clarity on regulation and infrastructure as tokenization grows, including around prudential treatment, tokenized collateral and settlement instruments. It said it will do further work to support tokenization, including considering how its approach to client asset rules, known as CASS, may evolve in light of industry feedback. The FCA also pointed to its April 30 policy statement, PS26/7, “Progressing Fund Tokenisation,” which finalized guidance and an optional Direct-to-Fund model for authorized funds.

The authorities said they are continuing to work with 16 firms through the Digital Securities Sandbox, where participants are working toward live issuance and settlement of tokenized assets. In notes accompanying the FCA announcement, the Bank was also described as committing to launch a live synchronisation service targeted for 2028 and as working to enable tokenized equivalents of already eligible assets to be used as collateral at central counterparties and in the Bank’s own operations. The FCA said that work also supports HM Treasury’s pilot issuance of a digital gilt instrument, or DIGIT.

That infrastructure matters because synchronisation is intended to allow conditional, or “atomic,” settlement of central bank money against assets recorded on external ledgers — a key issue for tokenized securities markets. The Bank’s renewed RTGS service, known as RT2, went live in April 2025, giving the central bank a newer payments backbone as it considers how tokenized markets should connect to core settlement systems.

On prudential oversight, the FCA said the Prudential Regulation Authority has published Dear CEO letters on the prudential treatment of tokenized asset exposures and on innovations in deposits, e-money and stablecoins.

“Tokenisation has the potential to transform wholesale markets — reshaping how assets are issued, traded and settled,” Simon Walls, executive director of markets at the FCA, said in the FCA statement. For now, the next milestones are near-term: industry responses by July 3, followed by a summer feedback statement and a fuller roadmap before the end of 2026.