WIREDGOV

The UK’s first digitally native government bond is moving closer to market.

• Government appoints six firms as Joint Lead Managers for the pilot issuance of DIGIT, the UK’s first digitally native government bond. 
• Announced in City minister’s keynote speech at Digital Assets Week, the appointments completes the procurement process and will allow investor engagement to begin. 
• The Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) is part of the government’s wider work to digitalise financial markets, strengthen the UK’s competitiveness and support innovation in digital finance.

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Morgan Stanley, NatWest, and RBC Capital Markets have been appointed as the Joint Lead Managers for the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) pilot issuance following a competitive procurement process.   

The appointment of Lead Managers is a key step towards the DIGIT pilot issuance, and these organisations bring expertise in both traditional sovereign bond issuance and digital markets. 

The Lead Managers will support the government by providing traditional Lead Manager services, including underwriting services, supporting investor engagement and distributing DIGIT on issuance day. 

The  DIGIT pilot, which is expected to take place by Q1 2027, will explore how distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be applied across the issuance and lifecycle of the bond. The pilot will put the new technology to the test—and show how the UK can turn its ambition for digital markets into practical action.

Lucy Rigby KC MP, 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.

DIGIT is part of the government’s wider strategy to digitalise wholesale financial markets and keep the UK competitive as distributed ledger technology changes how finance works. The Government is taking an active role in that shift, testing new infrastructure and helping create the conditions for firms to innovate and invest. 

Today’s (6 October) announcement follows the appointment of HSBC as the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) supplier in February, and the announcement in July that HSBC and LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) have signed a memorandum of understanding to deliver a bilateral Digital Securities Depository link.  

The six Lead Managers were chosen following a procurement process that evaluated suppliers against transparent and objective criteria, and marks another major step towards delivering on our ambitions.

The DIGIT Pilot 

DIGIT will support the government’s commitment to maintain the UK as a world-leading and global financial centre. As other financial hubs explore DLT, the potential for significant growth in this area is clear. By launching now, the government is positioning the UK financial services sector to take advantage of this opportunity. 

The pilot is seeking to: 

• Enable the government to explore how DLT can be applied to UK sovereign debt issuance processes. 
• Catalyse the development of UK based DLT infrastructure and the adoption of DLT across UK financial markets. 

The pilot’s design features include DIGIT being digitally native, short-dated, issued on a platform operating within the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS), delivering on-chain settlement and independent of the government’s main debt management programme.

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Collection

• Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT)