Fnality International, a blockchain-based wholesale payments provider, has secured £77.7m in a Series B funding round led by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas, with participation from DTCC, Euroclear, Nomura and WisdomTree.
Existing investors Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Barclays, CIBC, Commerzbank, ING, Lloyds Banking Group, Nasdaq Ventures, State Street, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and UBS also participated in the financing round.
With the latest round, the total investment in the fintech company reached £132.7m.
Fnality plans to start initial operations of its Sterling Fnality Payment System (£FnPS) this year and will use the funding to establish the world’s first global liquidity management ecosystem.
The liquidity management ecosystem is expected to support new digital payment models in both wholesale financial markets and emerging tokenised asset markets.
It includes the launch of FnPS in major currencies, including USD, expansion of the ecosystem and network to improve payments, settlement, and collateral management in global markets.
DTCC president, CEO and director Frank La Salla said: “Our investment in Fnality builds upon our agreement to acquire Securrency and will help foster new digital payment rails that will be essential for establishing a robust digital infrastructure, enabling interoperability and driving adoption of digital assets.”
BNP Paribas corporate and institutional banking global markets head Olivier Osty said: “BNP Paribas’ investment in Fnality illustrates the bank’s continued commitment to exploring and supporting innovative solutions within the banking industry.”
Goldman Sachs digital assets global head Mathew McDermott said: “Fnality’s application of blockchain technology offers a resilient way for institutions to use central bank funds across a wide set of potential use cases, including instantaneous, cross-border, cross-currency payments, collateral mobility, and security transactions.”
According to Fnality, real-time settlement of tokenised securities, real-time cross-border FX swaps, and real-time repo transactions, inherently use distributed ledger technology (DLT).
These capabilities facilitated traditional financial activity and achieved rapid, safe and effective exchange of value in global wholesale markets.
Fnality believes that the execution of such activity may help simplify processes, reduce costs, and ensure regulatory compliance while offering new products and access to new markets.
The fintech company, with experience in digital assets and engagement with key central banks and regulators, is well-positioned to operate at the intersection of the converging markets.
Fnality International CEO Rhomaios Ram said: “Our Series B funding round represents the financial sector’s desire for a central bank money-backed blockchain-based settlement solution that bridges the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralised finance (DeFi) in wholesale markets.
“Each Fnality Payment System utilises DLT to provide a 24/7 payment rail with the ability to reduce settlement cycles to real-time, while significantly improving intraday liquidity management and marking significant innovation in the speed, functionality, and resilience of wholesale payments.”
