The ’Project Meridian’ prototype demonstrates how to orchestrate synchronised settlement in central bank money using housing transactions as an exploratory use case.

In this instance, transactions settle using central bank money in an RTGS system. Funds are transferred from a buyer to a seller only if a corresponding asset on another ledger - a real estate registry in the project’s use case - moves at the same time in the opposite direction, reducing transaction costs and risks and increasing efficiency.

This is achieved via a new entity, the synchronisation operator, which in the experiment uses distributed ledger technology (DLT) to interlink the central bank’s settlement system with other financial market infrastructures and ledgers, automatically orchestrating the exchange in ownership of funds and assets.

The Bank of England and BIS say the generic interface could offer a standard way for synchronisation operators to connect multiple types of asset ledger, such as foreign exchange, equities and bonds, to an RTGS system and settle in central bank money, eliminating counterparty risks and reducing liquidity costs.

Francesca Hopwood Road, head of the BIS Innovation Hub London Centre, says: "Project Meridian demonstrates the potential to improve the functioning of existing financial market infrastructures with new technologies such as DLT. As central banks periodically update their settlement systems, the project’s insights will support the analysis of synchronisation’s benefits and shape how that service should be designed."