Project Ensemble 24/7 Settlement: Ensemble TX Adds Tokenised CeBM

ByRegReportingDesk
RegReportingDesk card: HKMA, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Hong Kong

On 2 November 2026 the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced that Ensemble TX, the pilot phase of Project Ensemble, now supports interbank settlement of tokenised deposit transactions in tokenised Central Bank Money (CeBM) on a 24/7 basis. This is the Project Ensemble 24/7 settlement capability the HKMA promised when it launched the pilot on 13 November 2025, when the interbank leg ran through the HKD Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system. The same release lifted participation to 12 tokenised deposit banks and 20 industry pioneers.

For banks, the hard questions move from technology to treasury and legal: how tokenised CeBM is funded outside conventional operating hours, whether a Sunday settlement carries the statutory finality that HKD CHATS holds, and how weekend movements land in position-date reporting. The release answers none of them. For stored value facility (SVF) licensees and other non-bank payment firms it changes less than the headline suggests, because the new leg sits between banks.

Related reading: HKMA Project Ensemble: Tokenised Deposits Enter Real-Value Pilot

Project Ensemble 24/7 settlement: the dates on record

  • March 2024: the HKMA launches Project Ensemble, initially focused on tokenised deposits.
  • August 2024: the Project Ensemble Sandbox opens.
  • 13 November 2025: Ensemble TX launches as the pilot phase, with interbank settlement initially through HKD RTGS; the HKMA says it will operate throughout 2026 and be progressively upgraded to 24/7 settlement in tokenised CeBM.
  • October 2026: the HKMA publishes the Project Ensemble Business Use Case Report, Interoperability Standard and Taxonomy.
  • 2 November 2026: 24/7 interbank settlement in tokenised CeBM is announced; participants rise to 12 banks and 20 industry pioneers.

The 2 November release gives no end date for the pilot. The November 2025 launch notice’s only published horizon is “throughout 2026”, which is an operating period, not a stated termination date. HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue spoke of “a new phase focused on promoting the commercialisation of tokenisation applications in Hong Kong”, yet the same release still calls Ensemble TX the pilot phase.

What changed on 2 November, and what runs alongside it

Ensemble TX can now settle the interbank leg of tokenised deposit transactions in tokenised CeBM at any hour, which the HKMA says supports settlement “beyond conventional operating hours”. Its Project Ensemble page describes this as taking place “in parallel with the RTGS”; the 2 November release itself does not say whether the original RTGS route remains available or how transactions are routed between the two arrangements.

Customers keep holding tokenised deposits, which the HKMA describes as “a digital representation of commercial bank deposits”. Where a participating bank makes tokenised-deposit transactions available outside conventional operating hours, the customer continues to hold a claim on that commercial bank. The new Ensemble TX capability supports 24/7 completion of the associated interbank settlement leg in tokenised CeBM. Customer eligibility and actual service availability depend on each participating bank’s arrangements.

The release never uses the term e-HKD. The HKMA’s October 2026 Business Use Case Report, however, describes Project Ensemble as exploring interbank settlement of tokenised money “using tokenised central bank money, e-HKD”, in line with the HKMA’s priority on the e-HKD for financial institutions in wholesale scenarios, covered in our note on the HKMA’s wholesale e-HKD pivot.

The HKMA’s Interoperability Standard sets out a phased pathway. It attaches no dates to its stages, so the status column is my mapping from HKMA announcements.

Stage What the standard describes Status in HKMA announcements
1. Settlement anchored on HKD RTGS HKD RTGS anchors interbank settlement to ensure finality Initial Ensemble TX set-up from November 2025
2. 24/7 settlement via tokenised CeBM 24/7 multi-currency settlement through common interfaces Announced 2 November 2026; the release names no currencies
3. Potential future models Single-ledger DvP/PvP as one possible longer-term model No date or commitment

The October report still listed introducing more currencies as something the HKMA was exploring, so I read the standard’s “multi-currency” wording as design scope, with no confirmation of which currencies settle in tokenised CeBM today.

Twelve tokenised deposit banks, five of them new

Annex A now splits the tokenised deposit banks by joining year. The 2026 joiners are Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) Limited, China CITIC Bank International Limited, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited, Industrial Bank Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Branch, and Nanyang Commercial Bank. The seven 2025 banks, including Bank of China (Hong Kong), Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) and HSBC, are unchanged.

The definition also changed tense. In November 2025 tokenised deposit banks were commercial banks that “are going to” provide tokenised deposits to customers in Hong Kong and settle interbank tokenised deposit transactions via Ensemble TX in a real-value setting. The 2026 annex states both limbs in the present, and the role is conjunctive.

SVF licensees, fund platforms and other non-bank participants

Annex B lists 20 “Other Industry Pioneers”. The seven added in 2026 are CMU OmniClear Limited, CNPC Finance (HK) Limited, EX.IO, Finloop Finance Technology Holding Limited, HashKey Group, JINGDONG Technology and Panthertrade (Hong Kong) Limited. Annex B carries no role definition. The release describes pioneers such as Ant International, BlackRock and China Asset Management (Hong Kong) as using tokenised deposits provided by participating banks for corporate treasury management and tokenised money market fund transactions.

That is the operative line for a payment firm. The release attaches no settlement account, licence or authorisation to an Annex B listing, and the tokenised CeBM leg settles between tokenised deposit banks. On this record, an SVF licensee under the regime in our guide to Hong Kong SVF licensing and reporting should establish service availability and eligibility with a participating tokenised deposit bank. The announcement does not establish a direct SVF entitlement to access tokenised CeBM settlement.

The HKMA’s own classification keeps the categories apart. Its e-HKD Pilot Programme Phase 2 Report places tokenised deposits under commercial bank money and puts traditional e-money and regulated stablecoins under electronic money issued by licensed institutions. Fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers are licensed under the Stablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656), in effect since 1 August 2025 (see the HKMA’s first stablecoin issuer licences). The HKMA’s separate 2 November 2026 FinTech Week announcement states that trials involving tokenised Exchange Fund Bills will soon be expanded to include regulated stablecoins. This does not establish that regulated stablecoins can already participate in Ensemble TX’s tokenised CeBM settlement leg, and no date for such access was announced.

For fund platforms, SFC Chief Executive Officer Julia Leung linked the capability to “secondary trading of tokenised funds on licensed platforms”; the release attaches no SFC licensing change to it.

Weekend liquidity: the treasury question the release leaves open

The release does not describe how tokenised CeBM is created or redeemed against RTGS balances, whether any liquidity facility supports it outside RTGS hours, or what cut-offs apply.

The HKMA has flagged the gap itself. Its October 2026 Business Use Case Report notes that, if tokenisation becomes a successful business model, banks “may need to maintain substantial interbank settlement balances”, and that this liquidity aspect “was not covered through the Sandbox experiments”. The same report says the HKMA has been exploring operational modalities to help banks manage liquidity cost-effectively in a 24/7, high-speed, high-value tokenised environment, which it calls a crucial pre-requisite.

My reading for treasury teams at the 12 banks: the capability is confirmed, the liquidity terms are not set out in the documents checked, and the size of tokenised CeBM pre-positioning before weekends and public holidays cannot be fixed from public material alone.

Finality: which Hong Kong systems hold a certificate

Under the Payment Systems and Stored Value Facilities Ordinance (Cap. 584), the Monetary Authority designates and oversees clearing and settlement systems and issues a certificate of finality to a designated system that meets the criteria specified in the Ordinance. The HKMA’s e-HKD Phase 2 Report explains that the Ordinance gives statutory backing to the finality of settlement through those systems by protecting it from insolvency and bankruptcy laws.

The HKMA’s oversight framework page, last revised on 29 September 2026, lists six designated systems holding certificates of finality: HKD CHATS (including the HKD FPS), USD CHATS, Euro CHATS, RMB CHATS (including the RMB FPS), the Central Moneymarkets Unit and the Continuous Linked Settlement System. Neither Ensemble TX nor a tokenised CeBM platform appears there, and the 2 November release says nothing about designation.

The e-HKD report also records that tokenised deposits are maintained within commercial banks’ infrastructures that are not designated under the PSSVFO, and the Interoperability Standard says HKD RTGS “anchors interbank settlement to ensure finality” in its first stage. The material I checked explains finality while the interbank leg ran through RTGS. It does not state the legal basis for finality of a tokenised CeBM settlement made outside RTGS, which leaves each participating bank’s legal team to obtain the HKMA’s position in writing.

Returns and reporting: nothing new in the release

The 2 November announcement does not itself introduce a new return, template, reporting frequency or licence category. However, existing HKMA requirements already address qualifying tokenised claims. Under SPM module LM-1, version 5 (19 December 2025), Annex 3, paragraph 4, a category 1 institution that has issued group 1a cryptoassets representing a legally binding claim on the institution, redeemable in fiat currency at par value and with a stable value supported by the institution’s creditworthiness and asset-liability profile (rather than a segregated pool of assets), may treat those liabilities as deposits or unsecured funding for liquidity purposes, subject to specified conditions. These liabilities must not be treated as stable retail deposits or stable small business funding, and where the holders cannot be identified at all times, different prescribed LCR and NSFR treatments apply.

The HKMA’s 27 November 2025 cryptoassets circular also finalised revised templates and completion instructions for Return MA(BS)1E (liquidity position) and Return MA(BS)26 (stable funding position), and the MA(BS)1E completion instructions refer to LM-1 Annex 3 paragraph 4 for tokenised claims. Participating banks should assess their applicable classification, liquidity treatment and return fields rather than assume unchanged reporting solely because the instrument is called a deposit. Whether a given bank’s Ensemble TX tokenised deposit is a group 1a cryptoasset meeting the LM-1 Annex 3 paragraph 4 criteria is a classification question under the HKMA’s cryptoassets standard, which the announcement does not address.

What 24/7 settlement adds is timing. Interbank positions can now move after the last RTGS business-day close and before the next opening. In my reading, where a reporting reference date falls on a weekend or public holiday, the cut-off for tokenised deposit movements and tokenised CeBM balances needs one written rule, applied identically by finance, treasury and regulatory reporting. None of the HKMA documents checked for this article sets such a rule for Ensemble TX.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a Hong Kong bank outside Annex A join Ensemble TX now that 24/7 settlement is available?

The release sets out no eligibility criteria or application route. At the November 2025 launch the HKMA invited stakeholders with innovative real-value use cases for tokenised deposits to take part, and its Project Ensemble page lists ensemble@hkma.gov.hk for general enquiries.

Can participating banks still settle tokenised deposit transactions through HKD RTGS?

The HKMA describes tokenised CeBM settlement as running in parallel with the RTGS, but none of the documents checked states a routing rule: whether a transaction settles in RTGS during RTGS hours and in tokenised CeBM outside them, or whether the banks choose. The answer matters because the finality analysis may differ between the two routes.

Does the new capability cover cross-border settlement?

The release does not mention it. The October 2026 Business Use Case Report states that the Sandbox did not cover use cases specifically testing cross-border settlement, while expecting cross-border settlement to become necessary in due course for overseas investors.

Key Takeaways

  • Treasury: get the HKMA’s funding, redemption and cut-off terms for tokenised CeBM before sizing weekend and holiday balances.
  • Legal: the finality basis for out-of-hours tokenised CeBM settlement is an open file; Ensemble TX holds no certificate on the HKMA’s published list.
  • Regulatory reporting: the 2 November release creates no additional return, but existing HKMA liquidity rules (SPM LM-1 version 5, Annex 3) and the MA(BS)1E completion instructions cover qualifying tokenised claims. Banks should confirm classification, outflow treatment, applicable return fields and the treatment of transactions around reporting reference dates.
  • SVF licensees and Annex B pioneers: on the current record, 24/7 settlement runs through a tokenised deposit bank.

Sources and References

Questions to Put to the HKMA on Ensemble TX

The November 2025 launch notice stated that Ensemble TX would operate throughout 2026. It did not specify that the pilot would terminate on 31 December 2026 or establish a subsequent decision date. In the meantime, a participating bank’s most useful artifact is a short file of the HKMA’s written answers on tokenised CeBM funding outside RTGS hours, the legal basis for finality of those settlements, and the routing rule between RTGS and tokenised CeBM.

Disclaimer: The information on RegReportingDesk.com is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, regulatory, tax, or compliance advice. Always consult your compliance officer, legal counsel, or the relevant supervisory authority for guidance specific to your institution.

Similar Posts

  • Hong Kong Carried Interest Tax Concession: Beyond Private Equity

    On 12 August 2026, Hong Kong’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) answered media enquiries about the preferential tax regime for carried interest and used the reply to draw a boundary. Under the current Schedule 16D, the 0 per cent profits tax concession applies to eligible carried interest received by a qualifying person from…

  • EPC Register of Participants: The 20 November 2026 Adherence Cutoff

    On 2 October 2026 the European Payments Council (EPC) announced an exceptional December 2026 publication cycle, added to its 2026 calendar for the EPC Register of Participants. Adherence documents for that cycle have to reach the EPC by 20 November 2026, the Register is published on 11 December 2026, and the earliest Operational Readiness Date…

  • Project Agora: Tokenised Wholesale Payments Reach Real-Value Testing

    On 27 May 2026 the Bank for International Settlements and the Institute of International Finance published the findings report for Project Agora, and the headline was concrete. A prototype had settled wholesale cross-border payments across several currencies using tokenised central bank reserves and tokenised commercial bank deposits, and the project’s legal analysis found that settlement…

  • BoE Delays November 2026 RTGS Standards Release: CHAPS Roadmap Reset

    The Bank of England will not run its November 2026 RTGS standards release. On 27 August 2026 the Bank confirmed it is deferring that release in its entirety, including the messaging standards for CHAPS payments, after Swift announced its decision to delay the November 2026 Swift Standards Release. For any CHAPS direct participant that had…