Five Banks Launch Global Layer One Organisation in Singapore

HSBC, Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, MUFG Bank, Societe Generale-FORGE and Standard Chartered have jointly established the Global Layer One Organisation (GL1 Org), a Singapore-based non-profit that will develop and promote common standards and frameworks for tokenised financial markets. The entity formalises the transition of Global Layer One (GL1) from an initiative convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore into an industry-led organisation.

GL1 was originally convened by MAS in collaboration with global financial institutions and policymakers. The five founding banks now carry the work forward themselves, marking a deliberate handover from regulator to industry.

The backdrop is fragmentation. As tokenisation gains momentum, a growing number of platforms, networks and digital financial infrastructures are emerging across markets and jurisdictions. Financial institutions are exploring how tokenised assets, digital money and other tokenised instruments can operate across these infrastructures. GL1 Org's premise is that common approaches let institutions and infrastructure providers operate across diverse networks with greater confidence.

What has GL1 produced so far?

Since launch, GL1 has delivered two practical industry frameworks:

• The GL1 Market Infrastructure (MI) Toolkit — a framework of controls, guided by international standards and emerging industry best practices, to assess the suitability of market infrastructures and support participants in designing their own infrastructure.
• The GL1 Programmable Compliance (PC) Toolkit — a structured approach to embedding regulatory and policy requirements directly into digital financial infrastructure.

Together, the frameworks provide guidance for developing and operating tokenised market infrastructure.

What does this change for execution and post-trade desks?

GL1 Org will support continued development and adoption of the two toolkits, advance common approaches for trusted and interoperable digital financial infrastructure, and facilitate connectivity across institutions, infrastructures and jurisdictions. Membership is open to financial institutions, policymakers, market infrastructure providers, FinTechs and other stakeholders across countries and jurisdictions. For desks weighing tokenised settlement venues, the relevance is concrete: a shared control and compliance baseline could reduce the due-diligence burden of assessing multiple emerging networks.

What the founders said

Ruby Ho, Managing Director, Head of Markets and Securities Services, ASEAN at HSBC, said: "Tokenisation can help make financial markets faster, more efficient and more connected, but those benefits will only be realised if clients can trust the underlying infrastructure. As regulation evolves across markets, HSBC supports responsible innovation built on clear standards, strong safeguards and close collaboration between industry and policymakers."

Oliver Harris, Global Head of Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, said: "We have long held the belief that strong cross-industry collaboration is essential for advancing tokenisation across financial infrastructures around the world and are pleased to join GL1 Org to help further this initiative."

Masashi Watanabe, Managing Director, Head of Digital Assets at MUFG Bank, said: "Global Collaboration among the policymakers and institutions are essential for building the future payment system, and I believe GL1 Org will be the gate and bridge among them."

Stephanie Cabossioras, Chief Strategy & Global Policy Officer at Societe Generale-FORGE, said the firm — an issuer of MiCA-compliant stablecoins (tokens regulated under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework) — views "a common foundation of industry standards" as "the best path to the scaling of tokenized asset markets," referencing the CAST framework built on its tokenised bond issuance experience.

Patrick Lee, CEO, Singapore and CEO, ASEAN and South Asia at Standard Chartered, said: "With various digital financial market infrastructures emerging for digital assets across public and private chain networks, the establishment of policy, regulatory and market infrastructure standards is critical for interoperability and for supporting further scaling of development and adoption globally."

The regulator's position

Leong Sing Chiong, Deputy Managing Director of MAS, said: "The establishment of GL1 Org marks an important step in bringing together financial institutions, infrastructure providers and policymakers to develop common standards and frameworks for tokenised financial markets. We welcome the transition of GL1 into an industry led organisation and look forward to supporting the next phase of this effort and broader industry participation in the years ahead."

No compliance deadlines, rule text or membership fees accompanied the announcement. What is mandated so far is organisational structure, not standards themselves. The next measurable milestone will be broader participation beyond the five founders and any adoption of the MI and PC toolkits by infrastructure providers outside the founding group.