The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Partior, the blockchain clearing and settlement network for cross border payments. Partior’s backers include DBS, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered and Temasek. Under the agreement, the two will explore NBB becoming a Bahraini Dinar (BHD) settlement bank on the network.
Partior uses tokenization to enable banks to make instant interbank cross border payments 24/7 via Partior’s settlement banks, targeting the delays, high costs and opacity of traditional correspondent banking. The network currently supports three currencies through its founding settlement banks, namely USD, EUR and SGD. Adding BHD would mark both a currency and jurisdiction expansion.
Under the agreement, Partior and NBB will evaluate the proposed operating model, implementation requirements and technical feasibility. The assessment will also consider the regulatory requirements within Bahrain’s financial services ecosystem. As with Partior’s arrangement with Emirates NBD, this is an exploratory agreement rather than a firm commitment.
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