Three central banks publish Project Meridian FX APAC findings

What happened

On 13 November 2026, the Bank of England, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Bank of Thailand released results from Project Meridian FX APAC ^[1].

The project tested payment-versus-payment, or PvP, for FX, and multilateral net FX, in test environments spanning Real-Time Gross Settlement systems and settlement systems based on Distributed Ledger Technology ^[1]. PvP "reduces FX settlement risk by ensuring that the transfer of one currency occurs if and only if the transfer of the other currency also occurs" ^[1]. Multilateral net FX let banks net payments against each other and so use their liquidity more efficiently ^[1].

The Bank of England calls "synchronisation" "a service that coordinates movements of central bank money" ^[1]. The trial treated that service as one route for different wholesale settlement setups to work together ^[1]. The Bank of England plans "to launch a live synchronisation interface in 2028" ^[1].

Partior, named as delivery partner, produced the Synchronisation Operator prototype used in the trial ^[1]. The Synchronisation Operator is the trial's coordination layer, so linked transfers "occur together, or not at all" ^[1]. The Reserve Bank of Australia took part in an observer role, as did Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ^[1]. The findings appear in an Introduction and Executive Summary, a Technical Report and a Policy Report ^[1].

Tom Mutton of the Bank of England said Project Meridian FX APAC "provides practical evidence of how synchronised settlement could help reduce risk and improve efficiency in cross-border FX transactions" ^[1].

Project Meridian FX, led by the BIS Innovation Hub London, is described separately in the release ^[1]. The Bank of England took part, as did the Bank of France, Deutsche Bundesbank, Bank of Italy and the European Central Bank ^[1]. That work tested synchronisation for cross-border interoperability ^[1].

How it affects Americans

The Bank of England release, citing the 2025 BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey, said "more than US$1.4 trillion, or 10%, of average daily FX settlement in April 2025 remained fully exposed to settlement risk" ^[1]. That survey figure is expressed in US dollars ^[1]. PvP settlement is meant to cut that exposure by tying both sides of a currency transfer together ^[1].

The Veil Press view

The Bank of England presents the 2028 interface as a planned service, not as a hook-up already open to banks outside the trial ^[1]. The London role named in the release is Project Meridian FX, led by the BIS Innovation Hub London ^[1].

Our read: This is a plumbing trial, not a rate decision and not a promise that American firms will see cheaper FX tomorrow. Whether a later live service would pull in more banks is a question the announcement leaves open.

What we know

Confirmed

• On 13 November 2026, the Bank of England, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Bank of Thailand released Project Meridian FX APAC results ^[1].
• The trial covered payment-versus-payment settlement for FX, and multilateral net FX, in test systems that included Real-Time Gross Settlement and setups based on Distributed Ledger Technology ^[1].
• The Bank of England plans "to launch a live synchronisation interface in 2028" ^[1].
• Partior produced the Synchronisation Operator prototype used in the trial ^[1].
• The Reserve Bank of Australia took part as an observer, as did Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ^[1].
• The release cites the 2025 BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey for the share of average daily FX settlement left "fully exposed to settlement risk" in April 2025 ^[1].
• Project Meridian FX was led by the BIS Innovation Hub London ^[1].

Still being reported

None.