Wells Fargo is preparing to pilot an internal settlement service running on a distributed ledger technology platform.
Wells Fargo Digital Cash will allow the giant bank to complete internal book transfers of cross-border payments within its global network using digitised cash — and for those international locations to exchange that digitised cash among themselves.
News of the pilot - which will take place next year - comes after a successful proof-of-concept that saw value moved between the US and Canada.
The pilot is expected to complete US dollar transfers initially, with a goal to expand to multicurrency transfers and the entire global Wells Fargo branch network.
Explaining the benefits of using DLT, the bank says Wells Fargo Digital Cash will help it achieve near real-time money movement without impact to the underlying account, transaction postings or reconcilement infrastructure with international transactions.
Wells Fargo global locations will be able to exchange funds in expanded operating hours without limitations from traditional posting infrastructure or differences in infrastructure across the network. Final settlement will occur without the need for third parties, reducing transfer time and costs.
In addition, corporate clients will not have to change their payment processes, cash management responsibilities or relationship management practices to benefit.
Lisa Frazier, head, innovation group, Wells Fargo, says: "We believe DLT holds promise for a variety of use cases, and we’re energized to take this significant step in applying the technology to banking in a material and scalable way.
"Wells Fargo Digital Cash has the potential to enable Wells Fargo to remove barriers to real-time financial interactions across multiple accounts in multiple marketplaces around the world."