Wholesale CBDC interbank settlement (illustrative)
An illustrative interbank payment where the banks settle in tokenized central-bank money on a central-bank platform. Central-bank money moves as a token between the banks; the customer legs are booked in commercial bank money on each side.
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The originator instructs Bank Alfa
Originator (paying customer) → Bank Alfa (sending bank) · Payment instruction
The paying customer tells its bank to pay a beneficiary at Northstar Bank. This is an instruction in commercial bank money — nothing has settled yet, and the customer never touches the wholesale CBDC directly.
Step 1 of 7: The originator instructs Bank Alfa
- 02ProcessingBank Alfa validates and screens the instructionBank Alfa (sending bank)
- 03PostingBank Alfa debits the originatorBank Alfa (sending bank)
- 04SettlementCentral-bank money moves as a token on the platformBank Alfa (sending bank) → Northstar Bank (receiving bank)
- 05ProcessingThe platform records the transfer as finalCentral Bank CBDC platform
- 06PostingNorthstar credits the beneficiaryNorthstar Bank (receiving bank)
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
- 02ProcessingBank Alfa validates and screens the instructionBank Alfa (sending bank)
Bank Alfa checks the instruction, confirms the originator's funds, and runs compliance screening before it will move central-bank money on the platform. In an illustrative two-tier design the banks, not the central bank, hold the customer relationship and perform these checks.
Screening checkpoint: Sending-bank transaction screening — Parties are screened against sanctions lists before any tokenized central-bank money moves.
- 03PostingBank Alfa debits the originatorBank Alfa (sending bank)
Once accepted, Bank Alfa books the debit on the customer's account. The originator's money has left their account in commercial bank money, but the interbank leg has not settled yet.
- DR Originator's current account at Bank Alfa — EUR 750,000.00
- 04SettlementCentral-bank money moves as a token on the platformBank Alfa (sending bank) → Northstar Bank (receiving bank)
Bank Alfa transfers wholesale CBDC to Northstar on the Central Bank platform. This is the settlement leg: tokenized central-bank money moves from one bank's holding to the other's, so the interbank obligation is extinguished in the safest settlement asset.
- DR Bank Alfa wholesale-CBDC holding — EUR 750,000.00
- CR Northstar wholesale-CBDC holding — EUR 750,000.00
- 05ProcessingThe platform records the transfer as finalCentral Bank CBDC platform
The Central Bank platform records the token transfer as final and irrevocable. In an illustrative design this checkpoint is the moment finality is defined — after it, the movement of central-bank money cannot be unwound unilaterally.
- 06PostingNorthstar credits the beneficiaryNorthstar Bank (receiving bank)
Because the interbank leg has already settled in central-bank money with finality, Northstar books the credit to the beneficiary in commercial bank money without waiting for anything else.
- CR Beneficiary's current account at Northstar — EUR 750,000.00
What this simplifies: ILLUSTRATIVE / SYNTHETIC — TRAINING ONLY. One token transfer between two banks on a generic central-bank platform. This is a forward-looking, design-dependent construction, not a live system; concrete wholesale-CBDC designs vary by jurisdiction and were not verified against a primary central-bank source this pass.
Sources for this flow3
- Official requirement
Principles for financial market infrastructures ↗ — CPMI and IOSCO (Bank for International Settlements)
Published by the CPSS (now CPMI) and IOSCO; contains 24 principles plus responsibilities for authorities. This site uses it only for high-level concepts such as settlement finality.
- Market practiceMarch 2003 edition
A glossary of terms used in payments and settlement systems ↗ — CPSS (now CPMI), Bank for International Settlements
Terminology has evolved since this edition; newer CPMI publications refine some definitions.
- Simplified educational illustration
Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal
What this simplifies: Forward-looking and design-dependent: an illustrative single wholesale-CBDC transfer between two fictional banks on a generic central-bank platform. Real designs differ on how finality is defined, how holdings and liquidity are structured, how the platform relates to existing real-time gross settlement, and who may access it. Not verified against a primary central-bank source this pass.
Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.