The rise of digital assets in finance
Digital assets are transforming the financial landscape. Mandy DeFilippo talks market trends, regulatory clarity and US impact in a Q&A interview.
As global markets undergo one of their most transformative changes in decades, digital assets are emerging as a cornerstone of the next era in banking. From tokenised securities to stablecoins, these technologies promise to enhance transparency and resilience if deployed with the right blend of innovation, inclusion and trust.
Driving this transformation for Standard Chartered in the United States is Mandy DeFilippo. With a career spanning more than two decades in financial services, DeFilippo is helping to shape the regulatory conversations that will define the industry’s future. Here, she explores what it takes to future-proof financial ecosystems and the potential of tokenised currency to spur growth across developed and emerging economies alike.
Q: Standard Chartered is among the most globally active banks in digital assets. How is the Americas region shaping the bank’s global strategy?
The Americas region plays a distinctive role because of where we are geographically. The US is home to the world’s deepest capital markets, a sophisticated corporate treasury base and a concentration of technology and financial-services innovation that sets global standards. The current US administration is also favourably disposed towards digital assets, driving policymaking and regulation at record speed.
This legislative and regulatory clarity is the critical “unlock” that will allow digital assets to move quickly from concepts to market reality. Clients in the US – large multinationals, asset managers and financial institutions — are less interested in experimentation for its own sake. They are focused on how digital assets can improve liquidity management, settlement efficiency and access to global markets. That demand has accelerated how we view product design, governance and integration.
The Americas also act as a proving ground. What works here, under stringent regulatory and operational standards, can often be scaled elsewhere. In that sense, the region isn’t just influencing our strategy; it’s helping us industrialise it.
Q: Where are you seeing the most opportunities for digital assets today—and what does the public still misunderstand about institutional adoption?
The most immediate opportunities are operational. We see real traction in cross-border payments and settlement, intraday liquidity optimisation, tokenised cash and securities and collateral mobility—areas institutions have been trying to optimise for decades. Digital asset infrastructure allows us to address them with greater speed, transparency and resilience.
Public narratives often assume institutional adoption is driven by enthusiasm for crypto itself. In reality, institutions care about outcomes: reducing friction, improving control and strengthening compliance. Adoption is happening quietly, case by case, often embedded within existing treasury, trading or custody frameworks rather than replacing them wholesale. Right now, in the US, this is about institutions—and largely about cross-border infrastructure and balance sheets.
Q: Standard Chartered has helped shape digital asset policy across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. How is the Americas franchise engaging regulators on responsible institutional use?
Our engagement in the US is grounded in the same principles guiding our work globally: facilitating solutions that work for clients and markets. We spend a great deal of time with policymakers explaining how institutional digital assets function in practice—how custody works, how risk is managed and how controls mirror or exceed those in traditional markets. Our goal isn’t to advocate for a single model, but to support responsible participation through regulated institutions, rather than pushing activity into less transparent corners of the market.
Q: What differences do you see in how markets approach digital transformation?
One advantage of our footprint is that we can see transformation unfold in different contexts. In some emerging markets, digital infrastructure has leapfrogged legacy systems entirely, whereas in more mature markets, innovation must be integrated with deeply entrenched legacy processes, regulatory expectations and risk cultures.
The key lesson we bring into the Americas is that progress does not require uniformity. Markets move at different speeds for good reasons. What matters is building interoperable systems that respect local rules while remaining globally connected.
Our long-standing presence in high-growth trade corridors across Asia, Africa and the Middle East has shown that adoption accelerates when technology is paired with trust, regulatory clarity and real economic utility. Those lessons directly inform how we build and scale digital asset capabilities across the Americas.
Q: Standard Chartered is the first global systemically important bank in the UK to offer regulated and institutional-grade spot digital asset trading to clients. What signal does that send, and how is it changing client behaviour?
It signals that digital assets are no longer peripheral to the financial system. When a systemically important bank offers regulated crypto trading and custody, it reframes the conversation from niche products or parallel markets to integrating new technology into trusted financial infrastructure.
For our institutional clients, it changes how digital assets fit into broader treasury and investment strategies. Now, they can engage through existing and familiar risk frameworks, governance structures and counterparties they already trust. That dramatically lowers the barrier to participation and moves the conversation from “if” to “how”, “when” and “where.” In many ways, it marks the transition from experimentation to normalisation.
Q: Which digital asset use cases are gaining the most traction among corporate and institutional clients? How has demand shifted over the past year?
Demand has become more precise and urgent across our client base. We see strong interest in stablecoin-based settlement for cross-border trade, tokenised deposits for on-chain liquidity management and digital asset custody integrated with existing portfolio and treasury operations. Financial institutions are also increasingly focused on tokenised funds and securities to improve distribution and settlement efficiency.
What has shifted is confidence. Clients are no longer asking whether these use cases are viable; now they are asking how quickly they can be deployed.
Q: How do tokenised currencies create value not just for institutions, but for broader society—particularly enhancing inclusion in emerging markets through trade efficiency and cross-border access?
Tokenised currencies can reduce the cost and complexity of cross-border commerce, which disproportionately affects smaller participants in global trade. Faster settlement, lower friction and improved transparency make it easier for businesses to access working capital, manage FX risk and participate in international supply chains.
For societies more broadly, this translates into more efficient trade flows, financial inclusion and economic resilience. When deployed through regulated institutions with deep local knowledge, these technologies can support growth without compromising stability.
Q: Looking toward 2030, how do you see digital assets integrating into Standard Chartered’s core business globally?
By 2030, digital asset infrastructure will be far more embedded and less visible, with clients focusing on speed, control and connectivity. We expect to see tokenisation integrated across transaction banking, markets and wealth management, supported by custody, compliance and risk frameworks aligned with our core businesses.
At Standard Chartered, we are not creating a separate digital franchise; we are modernising how we deliver financial services across our global network.
Mandy DeFilippoCEO, US, EA, MEA and Pakistan
Q: Across the world’s most dynamic trade corridors, what developments over the next five years are most exciting in terms of real-world impact?
One upcoming development I find exciting is the convergence of tokenised money, programmable payments and real-time cross-border settlement. As standards mature and interoperability improves, trade corridors will become faster, more transparent and more resilient.
This has particular significance for higher-growth regions where infrastructure gaps persist, but it will matter for developed markets, too. The ability to move value more quickly and reliably across time zones and jurisdictions can fundamentally change how global trade operates. This is meaningful for our business and our clients, and for international markets as well.
Q: As digital assets and AI reshape financial services, what leadership lessons would you impart institutions through this transformation?
As with all types of organisational change, transformation is more about culture than it is about technology. Adapting effectively means embracing change: leaders must be curious and open to listening and learning, not set in their strategies or limited in the viewpoints they accept.
Financial services are, of course, highly regulated. Everything we adopt must sit within sound compliance and risk management frameworks. The role of leadership is to create space for innovation within those structures, to invest thoughtfully and to focus on developing new capabilities that genuinely serve clients and the broader financial system. Achieving that balance will define successful institutions in the years ahead.
This article was originally published in the Wall Street Journal.
Latest insights
Banking on the UK’s AI advantage
AI-driven banking solutions are empowering UK tech firms to manage global operations and scale across borders se…