In the high-stakes world of cross-border finance, one secret meeting in London is attracting renewed attention. Senior banking executives and Bank of England observers met at The Langham, London, to discuss a confidential report highlighting flaws in global payment systems and advocating for programmable settlement rails.
Major banks like Barclays, HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Lloyds Banking Group reportedly discussed using the XRP Ledger to create a global liquidity network, according to a post by Lord Belgrave and shared by X-user Pumpius.
According to Pumpius, this information is a secret report connecting XRP to HSBC, Barclays, and the Bank of England.
Legacy Problems: Why Banks Are Looking for Change
The report, as described, focuses on three major pain points in correspondent banking: persistent liquidity locks, heavy messaging overhead, and multi-tier reconciliation delays.
EXPOSED: SECRET REPORT CONNECTING XRP TO HSBC, BARCLAYS & BANK OF ENGLAND REVEALED.
A must read, especially if you’re new to #XRP 👀 https://t.co/SgfYb8UKFV
— Pumpius (@pumpius) November 8, 2025
Financial institutions, it says, “lock trillions of dollars in nostro-vostro accounts” simply to keep payments moving smoothly, while the messaging architecture (e.g., via SWIFT) dictates flow, not settlement.
By contrast, landmark experiments by the Bank of England and Ripple showed that the Interledger Protocol enabled two simulated RTGS systems to settle cross-currency payments synchronously, eliminating reconciliation steps.
Proposed Solution: Finite Finality on Modern Rails
According to Pumpius’s post, the confidential report shifts quickly from diagnosis to prescription. It endorses a distributed ledger architectural design built on near-instant finality, embedded compliance layers, and minimal intermediaries.
At its core is the XRP Ledger — cited as “at the center of that design.” While public records confirm that the Bank of England’s 2017 FinTech Accelerator ran a proof-of-concept with Ripple Labs Inc. exploring ILP-based settlement, they do not confirm the exact banks, meeting venue, or full report described.
Institutional Context & Recent Developments
The involvement of HSBC and Barclays is plausible: HSBC announced in 2023 its partnership with Metaco, a platform acquired by Ripple, to support its institutional digital-asset custody infrastructure.
We are on X, follow us to connect with us :- @TimesTabloid1
— TimesTabloid (@TimesTabloid1) June 15, 2025
UK Finance has launched a pilot program for tokenized sterling deposits, partnering with major banks such as Barclays, HSBC, and Lloyds, to test digital pound deposits until mid-2026. This initiative aims to modernize payments, reduce fraud, and improve settlement processes, aligning with the UK’s crypto regulation plans.
These developments suggest a broader strategic alignment between major UK banks, tokenized-money experiments, and rails derived from the XRP ecosystem.
What We Know, and What Remains Private
Verified: The Bank of England has publicly documented a PoC with Ripple exploring synchronized settlement using ILP across RTGS systems. UK banks have launched pilots for tokenized deposits that enable programmable payments as part of an effort to modernize digital transactions.
What remains private: the exact confidential report described by Pumpius and Lord Belgrave, the meeting details at The Langham, and the final agreements or contractual commitments the report purportedly included.
In conclusion, the Pumpius post reignites the long-standing narrative that major banks and central banks are readying a tectonic shift in settlement infrastructure. While many pieces align with public disclosures, the specific report and linking of banks to the XRP Ledger remain unconfirmed in the public domain.
For readers following the evolution of digital ledger adoption, the convergence of PoCs, pilots, and private briefings suggests one thing: the rails for moving value may finally be under redesign.