Sibos 2026: Payments views from Commerzbank, SMBC, TCH

At Sibos 2026 in Geneva this week, Commerzbank, SMBC and The Clearing House presented differing but complementary approaches to modernising payments. Discussions covered cross-border settlement, liquidity management, interoperability and tokenisation.

Commerzbank’s head of transaction banking described priorities including intraday liquidity tools and enhanced messaging standards. The bank is combining ISO 20022 adoption with improved liquidity forecasting and closer links between local and international clearing systems to shorten settlement windows. It is running pilots on cash pooling across jurisdictions and linking real-time local rails to global settlement hubs. The official told the session, “Banks must give treasurers predictable timing and visibility.”

SMBC’s global head of transaction services framed the challenge around trade and corporate flows between Asia and Europe. The bank intends to keep correspondence networks while upgrading them with APIs, richer payment data and faster reconciliation. SMBC described bilateral integrations and partnerships with local clearing houses and is trialling tokenised assets for same-day settlement on selected corridors. The representative added, “Clients want certainty on settlement and full payment data attached to each transfer.”

The Clearing House focused on expanding its RTP network and testing tokenised deposits to achieve settlement finality. Its chief of payments infrastructure noted faster rails do not remove credit and liquidity risks unless finality and interoperability are addressed. The organisation is working with banks and fintechs on message standards, fraud controls and liquidity tools that operate across real-time systems. The executive warned, “Speed is necessary, but certainty about finality and compliance is the priority for banks and corporates.”

Panelists highlighted common technical themes: broader ISO 20022 implementation, more granular data fields for compliance screening, and selective use of distributed ledger technology for reconciliation and tokenised settlement. They pointed to operational hurdles including intraday liquidity limits, differing domestic settlement conventions and the need for robust sanctions screening when using faster rails.

Delegates noted regulatory clarity remains a barrier for wider tokenisation and cross-border interoperability. Sessions requested guidance on how tokenised liabilities and central bank digital currencies would interact with existing bank reserves and central bank accounts. Several workshops examined public-private cooperation to set standards for messaging, settlement finality and anti-money-laundering checks.

Sibos, organised by SWIFT, brought together bank executives, infrastructure providers and regulators to discuss payments, securities, fintech and regulation. Attendees focused on incremental changes and targeted pilots that align with existing market practices to enable faster, more transparent cross-border flows.