Global: UK Banks Begin Experimentation Stage for Regulated Liability Network

Leading UK financial institutions are advancing into the experimentation phase of the Regulated Liability Network (RLN), a proposed financial infrastructure that supports programmable money through a multi-bank shared ledger system.

Designed to serve as a universal innovation platform, the UK RLN aims to integrate various monetary forms including traditional commercial bank deposits and tokenised versions on a shared ledger.

Participating in this critical phase are major entities such as Barclays, Citi, HSBC, Lloyds, Mastercard, NatWest, Nationwide, Santander, Standard Chartered, Virgin Money, and Visa. This stage of the project will investigate multiple use cases:

• Payment-upon-delivery for physical products to curb fraud in online transactions.
• Enhancements in the home-buying process to increase transparency for customers and reduce risks associated with conveyancing.
• Digital bond settlements that link digital consumer money with digital assets.

This collaborative effort, supported through the summer by consultancy and technology partners including EY, R3, Quant, DXC, and Coadjute, aims to assess the benefits for consumers and businesses, test technical possibilities, and examine the necessary legal frameworks.

Kate Karimson, Chief Commercial Officer at R3, stated, “The RLN initiative unites the industry in pursuit of a common objective—leveraging the advantages of tokenised finance within a regulated, systematic, and interoperable framework.”