The UK has taken a further step towards issuing its first digitally native government bond with the appointment of six banks to manage the pilot

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Morgan Stanley, NatWest and RBC Capital Markets have been named as Joint Lead Managers for the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT), following a competitive procurement process. The appointments complete the procurement phase and clear the way for engagement with investors ahead of a pilot issuance expected by the first quarter of 2027.

The Lead Managers will provide traditional services including underwriting, supporting investor engagement and distributing the bond on issuance day. The Treasury said the six firms bring experience in both conventional sovereign debt issuance and digital markets.

DIGIT will test how distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be applied across the issuance and lifecycle of a government bond. The pilot is designed to be digitally native and short-dated, issued on a platform operating within the Digital Securities Sandbox, with on-chain settlement, and will run independently of the government’s main debt management programme.

Lucy Rigby, 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.”

The pilot forms part of the government’s wider strategy to digitalise wholesale financial markets. It is intended to explore how DLT can be applied to UK sovereign debt issuance processes and to encourage the development of UK-based DLT infrastructure and its adoption across financial markets. The government also noted that other financial hubs are exploring the technology and that it wants the UK sector positioned to take advantage of potential growth in the area.

The announcement follows the appointment of HSBC as DLT supplier for the project in February, and a memorandum of understanding signed in July by HSBC and the London Stock Exchange Group to deliver a bilateral Digital Securities Depository link.

The government said the procurement process evaluated suppliers against transparent and objective criteria, and that the pilot would demonstrate how the UK can put its ambitions for digital markets into practice.

HM Treasury awarded a 17,000 contract to Red Badger in March to develop and implement an Agile Practice Service, aimed at standardising Agile ways of working across its Corporate Centre Group.