英国选定六家银行牵头2027年初首笔数字国债发行

英国政府任命六家银行主导首笔数字化国债发行，试点预计于2027年第一季度落地

英国财政部于10月6日宣布，巴克莱（Barclays）、汇丰（HSBC）、劳埃德（Lloyds）、摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）、国民威斯敏斯特银行（NatWest）及RBC资本市场（RBC Capital Markets）将被选为“数字化国债工具”（DIGIT）的联合牵头管理人。此举标志着英国在探索数字资产金融基础设施方面迈出了关键一步。

六大银行承担承销、投资者关系与分销职责

经过竞争性采购流程，这六家机构将负责DIGIT的承销、投资者互动以及发行日的分销工作。财政部表示，其选拔过程依据透明和客观的标准对供应商进行了评估。经济秘书露西·里格比（Lucy Rigby）在英国数字资产周的主旨演讲中披露了这一人选名单。

根据财政部的要求，本次试点将发行短期债券，直接通过数字基础设施进行发行，并在链上完成结算，平台运营位于“数字证券沙盒”（Digital Securities Sandbox）内。财政部强调，该交易在设计上独立于政府主要的债务管理计划之外。

里格比在演讲中表示，政府计划将DIGIT作为首个数字资产在伦敦证券交易所集团（LSEG）的主要市场上市。她指出，若首次交易成功，政府还将筹备进一步的发行工作。她在社交媒体X上将该项目描述为“对新金融市场基础设施的一次实际测试”，并透露发行时间定在明年年初。

汇丰Orion平台将与LSEC基础设施对接

此前报道指出，这笔计划中的主权数字债券将以英镑计价，并通过汇丰银行的Orion平台发行。该项目最早于2024年宣布，汇丰银行于2026年2月被指定为平台供应商。

当时，财政部表示，该项目旨在考察分布式账本技术是否能够缩短结算时间、减少对账工作并降低运营成本。英格兰银行行长安德鲁·贝利（Andrew Bailey）也曾表示，央行将致力于接受DIGIT作为其市场操作的抵押品。

根据财政部的最新公告，汇丰银行与伦敦证券交易所集团已于今年7月签署谅解备忘录，共同开发双边数字证券存管链接。里格比表示，这一连接将使投资者能够通过任一基础设施访问DIGIT。此外，汇丰银行于今年7月成为首家获准在沙盒内运营实时数字证券存管的机构，ClearToken随后也成为第二家获得此批准的机构。

Rigby added that the government plans to introduce subsidiary legislation in the next few months to support digital services and distribution within the sandbox.

Digital settlement requires access to cash and custody systems

Richard Baker, CEO and founder of Tokenovate, pointed out that the infrastructure test of the pilot also includes the connection between digital securities and traditional financial systems. Baker, a member of the UK Treasury's Wholesale Digital Markets Industry Working Group, told the media: "On-chain settlement needs to be connected to cash, custody and existing settlement infrastructure, while relying on uniform standards and legal certainty to ensure cross-system life cycle events are consistent."

He believes that establishing these connections from the beginning will help establish whether tokenization can improve liquidity and market efficiency without creating a separate digital system.

A July 22 report reviewed the challenges faced by DIGIT cash settlement, citing the work of the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on payment options. Regulators are considering tokenized deposits, regulated stablecoins and central bank digital currencies as settlement assets. According to a May advisory paper from the Bank of England, the planned synchronization service would link digital asset ledgers to sterling held in its Real-Time Full Settlement System (RTGS). The bank's goal is to launch the service in 2028, so as to achieve simultaneous settlement between the trading securities and payment terminals.

In another bank test covered on September 24, UK Finance said Barclays, Lloyds and National Westminster Bank completed two tokenized deposit mortgage transactions. Another group of three banks, including HSBC, tested person-to-person payments linked to simulated online market purchases. In mortgage testing, funds remained locked in during property processing and automatically released after completion; in market testing, payments were dependent on confirmation that goods were received, although there was no barter exchange.

Jana Mackintosh, director of payments and innovation management at the British Financial Institute, told Reuters that participating banks plan to issue three digital bonds in the first quarter of 2027, which can be traded and settled using tokenized deposits. The association also plans to form a company, develop a rule book and governance framework for the deposit project.

Anglo-American cooperation covers cross-border securities settlement

For U.S. market participants, relevant policy work includes cooperation between Anglo-American financial regulators. An August 12 report covered the "U.S. -UK Tokenization Market Recommendations", proposing proposals for cross-border experiments and common regulatory approaches, while also clearly distinguishing between these recommendations and enforceable rules.

Based on the working group's recommendations on July 14, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England will seek a common approach on the regulatory treatment of tokenized assets. Its work includes settlement finality and the potential use of stablecoins or tokenized money market funds as central counterparty margin collateral.

The policy document states that the two governments also intend to hire a private sector-led group to conduct a one-year test to test the cross-border use of tokenized assets and share practical experience with officials.

Marius Jurgilas, CEO of Axiology and former central bank official, said in an interview that connecting the issuance, distribution, trading and settlement of securities through regulated infrastructure "can expand its investor base and create more financing options." He added that government support would help create a market where capital flows more smoothly between countries and reaches more issuers.