Standard Chartered Bank has announced that it is supporting China Asset Management (Hong Kong) (ChinaAMC (HK)) to launch the "first" tokenised retail money market fund in Asia Pacific.

The tokenised fund is expected to launch by the end of this month.

The Hong Kong branch of London-headquartered bank will be the asset management firm's digital asset service provider, with Standard Chartered Trustee (Hong Kong) acting as the open-ended fund company custodian for the fund.

ChinaAMC (HK) is one of the first mainland Chinese fund management companies licensed to conduct asset management business in Hong Kong.

The move will see the company use Libeara, an incubated tokenisation platform from SC Ventures, Standard Chartered's FinTech investment and start-up arm.

ChinaAMC (HK) will use the platform to build its money market fund with a suite of securities and technology to facilitate tokenisation of the fund, fiduciary, fund administration, custody and cash services.

“We are pleased to strategically combine our strengths in traditional custody services and
innovative FinTech capabilities to support ChinaAMC in launching the first tokenised retail
money market fund in Asia Pacific in the near future, marking another milestone in the
development of Hong Kong as a global digital assets hub,” said Mary Huen, chief executive, Hong Kong and Greater China & North Asia, Standard Chartered. “Standard Chartered believes that digital assets are fundamentally transforming the ecosystem of the financial markets. We are dedicated to meeting our clients’ needs in seizing the current huge opportunities.”

The partnership follows the launch of Standard Chartered's digital asset custody services in the UAE in the Middle East and Luxembourg in Europe.

The bank's global head of financing & securities services Margaret Harwood-Jones said that looking ahead the organisation is keen to support "more institutional clients worldwide".

In May 2024, Standard Chartered Bank’s Hong Kong arm successfully completed a pilot which tested cross-border transactions with tokenised carbon assets in partnership with Mastercard.

The trial was completed under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Fintech Supervisory Sandbox, with the bank describing the move as the latest milestone in driving FinTech innovation and developing the tokenisation market in Hong Kong.

The proof-of-concept pilot (POC) was conducted between Mox Bank, a virtual bank backed by Standard Chartered and Libeara, a tokenisation platform backed by SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s start-up arm.

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