Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has connected to Singapore Gulf Bank's SGB Net to give selected institutional clients in Asia and the Gulf around-the-clock U.S. dollar settlement.

Payward announced the partnership on Oct. 5. Clients of both companies can now settle qualifying transactions at any hour through SGB's real-time, multi-currency clearing network. The initial rollout covers U.S. dollars and a limited group of institutional customers in supported jurisdictions.

Markets run 24/7. Settlement should too. Payward has integrated SGB Net from @SGB_app, a real-time clearing network, so institutional clients can settle instantly, 24/7. Read the full announcement: — Payward (@Payward) October 5, 2026

Settlement That Follows the Trading Clock

SGB Net allows participating customers to move fiat funds without waiting for normal banking hours. Through the Payward integration, an eligible SGB client can deposit money with Payward and make the funds available for trading immediately, including on weekends.

The service begins with U.S. dollar transfers. Payward and SGB said more currencies and clients are expected to be added later, though neither company provided a timetable for the next phase.

Payward Chief Commercial Officer Mark Greenberg said digital-asset firms often face a mismatch between continuous trading and banking cut-off times. He described the problem by saying "settlement stops when the business day does." The mismatch also has a geographic dimension: U.S. dollar transfers have traditionally been processed during banking hours in the United States, which for institutions in Asian and Gulf time zones can fall outside their own working days.

An Extension of the SoFi Playbook

The company has pursued a similar arrangement elsewhere. In September, a 24/7 settlement partnership between SoFi and Payward connected Payward to SoFi's real-time payment network, while SoFi added Kraken Prime as another liquidity source for digital-asset orders.

Under that agreement, qualified institutional clients gained access to round-the-clock U.S. dollar transfers. Kraken agreed to list SoFiUSD, and SoFi said Kraken Prime would supplement its existing sources of crypto liquidity.

The Singapore Gulf Bank agreement extends the same model into selected Asian and Gulf jurisdictions through a separate regulated banking network. Singapore Gulf Bank will also connect with Kraken Prime under the arrangement, giving the bank an additional source of digital-asset liquidity, and SGB plans to use Payward's markets when pricing trades for its own customers over the coming months.

SGB Net Monthly Fiat Volume Tops $20 Billion

Singapore Gulf Bank launched SGB Net in May 2025 as a real-time, multi-currency clearing network for businesses operating across conventional and digital financial markets. Payward's Oct. 5 release says the network now processes more than $20 billion in fiat transactions each month. The figure comes from the companies and was not independently audited in the material reviewed for this report.

Earlier figures were substantially lower. A February 2026 SGB update cited more than $2 billion in monthly fiat transaction volume, while later partnerships expanded the bank's payment and correspondent banking connections.

SGB's website confirms that the institution is licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain. Despite the Singapore name, its site identifies the company as a conventional wholesale bank. The bank is backed by Bahrain sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat and Singapore-based Whampoa Group. SGB received its banking license before launching corporate services in late 2024, followed by SGB Net the next year.

The network has since added links with established banks. Correspondent banking allows a bank to send and receive payments in currencies and jurisdictions through accounts held at partner banks. In May, SGB announced a partnership with Standard Chartered to improve multi-currency clearing and settlement across markets in Asia and the Middle East. That payment-corridor partnership focused on correspondent banking infrastructure and faster settlement for businesses operating in digital-asset markets.

Earlier, in January, SGB joined J.P. Morgan's correspondent banking network and adopted Wire 365, which provides U.S. dollar clearing every day of the year. SGB said the service gave customers uninterrupted access to cross-border dollar payments.

Kraken Prime as an Additional Liquidity Source

The other part of the Payward agreement centers on Kraken Prime, which serves institutional investors that need access to digital-asset trading, liquidity, financing and other services through Payward's infrastructure. Under the new agreement, Singapore Gulf Bank will use Kraken Prime as an additional venue when sourcing liquidity for clients. For a bank executing client trades, additional liquidity venues broaden the options available when sourcing assets.

SGB CEO Shawn Chan said "clients can move funds when they need to" through the connection between settlement and liquidity. The statement describes the service available through the partnership and does not mean all SGB customers receive immediate access.

The companies did not disclose expected trading volume, supported cryptocurrencies or the number of institutions included in the initial launch.

Separately from the Payward agreement, SGB has been developing services that connect traditional bank accounts with digital assets. Its regulated fiat-stablecoin interoperability service was introduced for institutions seeking to mint, convert and trade stablecoins through a regulated banking platform. The service supports assets including USDC and USDT across networks such as Ethereum, Solana and Arbitrum, with SGB Net positioned as the fiat settlement layer supporting those services.

SGB has since added direct stablecoin minting and redemption capabilities for selected corporate and high-net-worth clients, expanding the ways customers can move between bank money and digital assets.

Payward Keeps Building Regulated Banking Connections

The SGB deal forms part of Payward Banking, which handles cash movement across deposits, payments, cards, custody and lending within Payward's product infrastructure. Banking relationships have become one part of Payward's institutional expansion during 2026: the SoFi agreement brought 24/7 U.S. dollar settlement in the U.S., while the SGB partnership covers supported clients across parts of Asia and the Gulf.

Payward has pursued regulated custody infrastructure at the same time. Its OCC crypto trust charter application proposed creating Payward National Trust Company as a federally regulated digital-asset custodian in the United States. The application was filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in May, and Payward proposed providing institutional crypto custody without accepting traditional deposits or issuing conventional loans. The OCC had not granted final approval when the application was last reviewed, and an August update showed Payward remained among digital-asset businesses with pending federal licensing applications.

Singapore Gulf Bank, meanwhile, continues to operate under its Central Bank of Bahrain license. Its corporate banking services combine multi-currency accounts, international payments, digital-asset services and remote onboarding for eligible customers.

For the Payward partnership, U.S. dollars remain the only settlement currency publicly confirmed for the initial rollout. The companies said additional currencies and more institutional customers are planned after the first phase, but no dates have been announced.