Wholesale payment systems, which form the backbone of institutional finance, have long been criticized for their inefficiencies. Particularly in cross-border transactions, these systems can be slow and costly, often taking days to ensure settlement. Such delays not only tie up significant amounts of capital but also complicate liquidity management for financial institutions.
In response to these challenges, London-based fintech Fnality is leveraging distributed ledger technology (DLT) to create regulated payment systems based on digital versions of central bank money. This innovative approach allows for instant, atomic settlement, ensuring that the transfer of institutional funds occurs swiftly and securely, backed by the credit security of central bank reserves.
Recently, Fnality announced it has raised $136 million in a Series C funding round led by prominent financial players, including WisdomTree, Bank of America, Citi, KBC Group, Temasek, and Tradeweb. Existing investors like Banco Santander, Barclays, BNP Paribas, DTCC, Euroclear, Goldman Sachs, ING, Nasdaq, State Street, and UBS also contributed to this round of funding.
With the newly acquired capital, Fnality plans to expand its sterling payment system to encompass the US dollar and euro markets, pending necessary approvals from the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank. The company aims to tap into the burgeoning $120 billion-plus cross-border payments market, fueled by the ongoing rapid growth in tokenized securities.
Founded in 2019 by Rhomaios Ram, a former Deutsche Bank executive with over two decades in FX and transaction banking, Fnality was conceived as a solution to the persistent inefficiencies in wholesale finance. Despite initially retiring from banking, Ram was lured back to spearhead a blockchain initiative focused on remedying these issues.
In March 2025, Michelle Neal took the helm as CEO, bringing with her a wealth of experience from roles at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, and Nomura. While Ram continues to participate as a strategic advisor, focusing on product development and regulatory strategy, Neal is steering the company toward its ambitious goals.
One of Fnality’s significant innovations is its “earmarking” feature within the Sterling Fnality Payment System (£FnPS), which marks it as the world’s first regulated DLT-based wholesale payment platform. Developed in conjunction with Banco Santander, Lloyds Banking Group, and UBS, this earmarking capability allows institutions to reserve funds for specific purposes, ensuring that resources can only be used as intended.
This added programmability introduces conditionality to central bank digital money, paving the way for scalable new business models. Earmarking facilitates real-time, automated payment flows that release funds only when cryptographic proof of key events, like asset delivery or trade completion, is provided.
Fnality sets itself apart by relying on central bank-supervised payment rails. Unlike competitors such as JPMorgan’s Kinexys, which is powered by JPM Coin, or Partior, that utilize commercial bank money and thus expose transactions to credit risk, Fnality’s model eliminates such risks by conducting payments on actual central bank money. This approach avoids the use of intermediary tokens or bridge currencies and enables direct, atomic swaps of fiat currencies on the blockchain.
Looking ahead, Neal summarized the company’s mission: “Our blockchain-based settlement systems, anchored in the credit quality of central bank money, connect traditional finance with the fast adoption of tokenized and decentralized markets. With 24/7 payment rails, real-time settlement, and enhanced liquidity management, we’re not just modernizing wholesale payments; we’re building a future that fuses Decentralized Finance’s operational optimization with Traditional Finance’s capital efficiency.”
Jonathan Steinberg, CEO of WisdomTree, echoed this sentiment, noting, “We see Fnality’s blockchain-based settlement systems, anchored in reserves held in central banks, as a critical foundation for this vision and the future infrastructure of financial services.”
