The Bank of England opened a consultation on 29 October on a draft supervisory statement about how central counterparties can accept tokenised forms of collateral that is already eligible. The Bank considers that the existing framework does not prevent this, provided the collateral can be valued, transferred and realised even in stressed conditions. The proposed expectations cover liquidity, valuation and interoperability, settlement finality, credit and concentration risk, operational resilience and custody. The consultation closes on 12 February 2027.

What it means: The consultation does not create a new regime or widen the list of eligible collateral. It clarifies what the supervisor will look at when a central counterparty asks to accept, for example, tokenised government bonds instead of the usual kind. What matters is margin calls: when markets move sharply, members must post collateral within hours, and faster transfer of securities on distributed ledgers could ease liquidity strains. The Bank wants the liquidity of a tokenised asset to be assessed separately from its conventional twin, however, because trading hours and market depth may differ. It also seeks views on stablecoins, tokenised money market funds and tokenised gold. In the EU, ESMA asked for evidence on the same topic in October and the ECB is pushing settlement in central bank money through Pontes, so both sides are moving in parallel. For Greek banks and investment firms that are clearing members, the issue is not immediate, but it shows where market infrastructure is heading. It is worth assessing technical readiness for holding and moving tokenised securities now.

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