- Government appoints six firms as Joint Lead Managers for the
pilot issuance of DIGIT, the UK's first digitally native
government bond.
- Announced in City minister's keynote speech at Digital Assets
Week, the appointments completes the procurement process and will
allow investor engagement to begin.
- The Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) is part of the
government's wider work to digitalise financial markets,
strengthen the UK's competitiveness and support innovation in
digital finance.
Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Morgan Stanley, NatWest, and RBC Capital
Markets have been appointed as the Joint Lead Managers for the
Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) pilot issuance following a
competitive procurement process.
The appointment of Lead Managers is a key step towards the DIGIT
pilot issuance, and these organisations bring expertise in both
traditional sovereign bond issuance and digital markets.
The Lead Managers will support the government by providing
traditional Lead Manager services, including underwriting
services, supporting investor engagement and distributing DIGIT
on issuance day.
The DIGIT pilot, which is expected to take place by Q1
2027, will explore how distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be
applied across the issuance and lifecycle of the bond. The pilot
will put the new technology to the testand show how the UK can
turn its ambition for digital markets into practical action.
KC MP, Economic Secretary to the
Treasury, said:
Digitalisation is central to ensuring that the UK can be a global
hub for digital assets and the government's commitment to the
issuance of a digital gilt is a core part of this agenda. The
appointment of Lead Managers marks an important step as we work
towards issuance early next year.
DIGIT is part of the government's wider strategy to digitalise
wholesale financial markets and keep the UK competitive as
distributed ledger technology changes how finance works. The
Government is taking an active role in that shift, testing new
infrastructure and helping create the conditions for firms to
innovate and invest.
Today's (6 October) announcement follows the appointment of HSBC
as the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) supplier in February,
and the announcement in July that HSBC and LSEG (London Stock
Exchange Group) have signed a memorandum of understanding to
deliver a bilateral Digital Securities Depository
link.
The six Lead Managers were chosen following a procurement process
that evaluated suppliers against transparent and objective
criteria, and marks another major step towards delivering on our
ambitions.
The DIGIT Pilot
DIGIT will support the government's commitment to maintain the UK
as a world-leading and global financial centre. As other
financial hubs explore DLT, the potential for significant growth
in this area is clear. By launching now, the government is
positioning the UK financial services sector to take advantage of
this opportunity.
The pilot is seeking to:
- Enable the government to explore how DLT can be applied to UK
sovereign debt issuance processes.
- Catalyse the development of UK based DLT infrastructure and
the adoption of DLT across UK financial markets.
The pilot's design features include DIGIT being digitally native,
short-dated, issued on a platform operating within the Digital
Securities Sandbox (DSS), delivering on-chain settlement and
independent of the government's main debt management programme.
