HSBC has announced a major push into blockchain-based tech, less than two months after its CEO said that the bank had no intention of “getting into the crypto world”.

HSBC Orion is the British banking giant’s new proprietary tokenisation platform. It said that the platform will be available for financial institutions and corporates to use to “issue digital bonds based on distributed ledger technology.”

Announcing the launch, the bank said that the European Investment Bank (EIB) is currently exploring the possibility of issuing the market’s first GBP tokenised bond using HSBC Orion.

The platform leverages blockchain technology as a ‘single source of truth’, with asset and settlement tokens sitting natively and securely on the platform’s ledger and transactions occurring by exchanging these tokens.

John O’Neill, global head of digital asset strategy, Markets & Securities Services, HBSC, said: “Digital assets are a fast growing part of financial markets. Our clients are demanding solutions that can deliver the benefits of tokenisation within a trusted and secure environment. We are excited to be meeting this growing need by launching HSBC Orion, our strategic platform for tokenised assets. We plan to use HSBC Orion to facilitate further digital bond issuance and expand its usage to other products in 2023.”

Asif Sherani, managing director, Head of DCM Syndicate, EMEA, said: “We’re delighted to be working with the European Investment Bank to explore launching a tokenised bond on HSBC Orion. Tokenisation opens up opportunities for fixed-income issuance, including faster processing and improved operational performance.”

While HSBC has been a longstanding advocate for blockchain-based technologies from as early as at least December 2020, the bank has had a similarly long-held antipathy towards cryptocurrencies. HSBC customers are not able to make transfers from digital wallets, while they are also unable to buy shares in companies associated with cryptocurrencies.

This is a stance which CEO Noel Quinn doubled-down on in an interview with CNBC in September where he admitted "HSBC is more negative on crypto than other banks.”

“As a bank, we’re not getting into the crypto world, crypto trading, crypto exchanges… As a product, I questioned its suitability for many of the consumers in the marketplace today,” he said.

The exec had previously told Reuters in 2021 that HSBC is "not into bitcoin as an asset class" and expressed concerns around the stability of stablecoins.

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