BOCI, the investment banking division of the Bank of China, has broken new ground by issuing 200 million yuan ($28 million) in all-digital structured banknotes in Hong Kong. This is the first instance of a tokenized security issuance by a Chinese financial institution in the region.
UBS is the originator of the product, which was allocated to its customers in the Asia-Pacific region, demonstrating an ongoing collaboration between BOCI and UBS on digital structured banknotes.
Previously, in December 2022, UBS issued a $50 million tokenized fixed-rate note under the administration of English and Swiss laws, using a regulated blockchain.
This recent transaction marks the launch of the first product of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, established under the legal frameworks of Hong Kong and Switzerland and tokenized on the primary Ethereum blockchain.
In an official statement, Ying Wang, deputy CEO of BOCI, said: “In partnership with UBS, we are streamlining digital asset markets and products for Asia Pacific clients by developing blockchain-based digital structured products specifically tailored to the clients of this region. We are inspired by Hong Kong’s evolving digital economy and are committed to advancing the digital transformation and innovative growth of the financial sector.”
“We are pleased to partner with BOCI on this transaction to bring structured products onto a public blockchain network, supporting our APAC clients’ increasing interest in fully regulated digital asset products,” said Aurelian Troendle, Global Head of MTN Trading at UBS. “Blockchain technology can vastly improve the efficiency of high-frequency issuance operations, ultimately resulting in investor benefits.”
This month, Hong Kong also opened public retail of cryptocurrencies and is encouraging digital currency exchanges to get licensed in the city, demonstrating its intent to become a major global hub for crypto.
Editor’s Note: This article was written by an nft now contributor in collaboration with OpenAI’s GPT-4.