Bank of England approves platform link for the UK's first digital gilt, due by early 2027
Investors will be able to access the DIGIT pilot through HSBC Orion or LSEG's digital depository, and the Treasury has set out what each of its six lead banks will do.
By Daily Oracles News Team1 min read
Plans for the UK's first digitally native government bond have cleared another technical step. The Bank of England has approved a link between two digital securities depositories, HSBC Orion and LSEG's platform, so investors can take part through either one, the Treasury said on Monday.
Under the arrangement HSBC Orion acts as the depository for the issuer, the government, and LSEG's depository serves investors. The Treasury described it as a world first. HSBC and LSEG first agreed to work towards the link in July.
The Treasury also set out what each of its six joint lead managers, appointed in October, will do:
- HSBC: documentation, settlement, billing and delivery, and bookbuilding.
- RBC Capital Markets and Barclays: coordinating the roadshow and communication with the market.
- Lloyds: press and external communications.
- NatWest and Morgan Stanley: a new platform coordinator role, helping investors sign up to and use their chosen digital platform before the issue.
About DIGIT
DIGIT, the Digital Gilt Instrument, will be a short-dated bond settled on-chain and issued on a platform operating inside the Digital Securities Sandbox. It sits outside the government's main debt management programme.
The aim is to test how distributed ledger technology can work for UK government debt and to support ledger-based market infrastructure in Britain. HSBC won the mandate to provide the platform in February.
Lucy Rigby, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said the announcements took the government another step closer to issuing the bond early next year. The pilot issue is expected by the first quarter of 2027, and the Treasury said Monday's announcements were meant to give investors more certainty ahead of it.
