Project Meridian FX APAC produced its first technical results on November 13, 2026, when the Bank of England, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Bank of Thailand jointly published findings from a coordinated settlement experiment. The project tested whether a synchronisation layer could link foreign exchange payments across different settlement infrastructures, including both RTGS systems and DLT-based environments. No real money changed hands: all tests ran in simulated environments maintained by each of the three central banks.
The prototype, built with technical partner Partior, examined two distinct settlement modes. The first was bilateral payment-versus-payment (PvP) settlement, where one currency leg of a foreign exchange transaction is transferred if and only if the other leg is also transferred simultaneously. The second was multilateral net settlement across all three systems. PvP directly addresses the settlement risk where one counterparty delivers its currency without receiving the agreed currency in return.
A Synchronisation Layer Across Different Infrastructures
RTGS systems settle payments individually, in real time, using central bank funds. DLT infrastructures record and update transactions across distributed ledgers. The project examined whether a dedicated Synchronisation Operator (SO) could bridge systems with fundamentally different architectures and capabilities, without forcing any central bank to adopt a single common technology.
In the test scenario, the SO coordinated linked transfers and verified that both legs of a transaction progressed together. Partior developed and integrated the prototype across the three experimental environments. The results, as reported in the Bank of England’s published findings, showed that the model can function technically even when underlying infrastructures differ. Those differences do, however, increase integration complexity and expand the range of responsibilities assigned to the operator.
Multilateral Netting Can Cut Liquidity Requirements
The second test scenario focused on multilateral net settlement. Rather than settling each transaction individually, the system identifies a set of eligible payments and coordinates settlement of net positions across participants. According to the project’s technical report, this approach can meaningfully reduce the liquidity each participant needs to hold, while preserving the PvP principle: linked legs settle together or are cancelled together.
The benefit depends on precise coordination between systems. Calculating net positions is only part of the challenge. Participants must agree on which transactions to include, and each system must ring-fence the required liquidity while other systems complete their side of the settlement. Differences in how each infrastructure handles payment instructions and communicates errors can add processing steps and increase the operational burden on the synchronisation operator.
What the Tests Did Not Resolve
The experiment included several exception scenarios: insufficient funds, invalid account identifiers, and temporary system outages. In each case tested, the system either completed settlement across both legs or cancelled both legs, preventing a situation where only one side of the transaction went through. The three central banks note, however, that real-world conditions not fully covered by the tests remain open, including non-overlapping operating hours, time-zone differences, and prolonged system outages.
A successful technical outcome does not equate to a shared legal finality. Even if the system coordinates transfers atomically, significant questions remain: the legal effect of settlement across jurisdictions, the governance structure of the synchronisation operator, liability allocation in the event of errors, and the form of regulatory cooperation between authorities. The policy report released alongside the technical findings notes that existing legal frameworks offer useful reference points but do not constitute a ready-made model for a cross-border synchronisation network.
The experiment demonstrates technical feasibility in a controlled, simulated setting, not a live operational service. The Bank of England stated in its November 2026 publication that the results will feed into the development of an operational synchronisation interface targeted for 2028. Participation by MAS and the Bank of Thailand in this project does not represent an equivalent operational commitment on their part.
