FIS Launches Bank-Focused Platform for Digital Currencies

FIS has launched a new platform that enables banks to issue, manage and settle their own digital money while keeping those deposits on their balance sheet.

The platform, Lyriq, is designed for regulated financial institutions and has completed seven proof-of-concepts with financial institutions, the company said in a Wednesday (April 29) press release.

The digital money Lyriq can handle includes tokenized deposits and digital currencies, according to the release.

To meet bank and regulatory standards, it has compliance, identity verification and audit controls embedded into the platform itself.

The platform works with existing core banking systems from any technology provider, supports round-the-clock settlement and delivers transactions that either complete fully or fail cleanly, with no partial failures, per the release.

“Lyriq is production-ready infrastructure that, combined with our deep expertise integrating bank technology, puts banks in control of money in motion,” Jim Johnson, co-president of banking solutions at FIS, said in the release. “Lyriq is a platform proven with financial institutions — one that meets banks and regulators where they are.”

The new platform joins FIS’ growing digital assets portfolio that also includes a Circle partnership that integrated stablecoin payments via the company’s Money Movement Hub for 24/7 cross-border settlement, and an FIS Digital Liquidity Gateway that enables loan tokenization for securitization, according to the release.

FIS and Circle announced their partnership in July, saying their collaboration would help U.S. financial institutions transact in Circle’s USDC stablecoin within a regulated and compliant framework and enable their customers to make domestic and cross-border payments with that stablecoin.

FIS debuted its Money Movement Hub in May, describing it as a tool that helps financial institutions link to major payment networks—including instant payment services, wire and ACH—and process payments within one solution via a single API.

FIS executives said during a February earnings call that financial institutions continue to modernize core operations, deepen investments in payments and issuing, and seek greater value from their data.

During the fourth quarter, the company’s Banking Solutions business once again served as the primary engine of expansion, with adjusted revenue up 8.3% and recurring revenue up 8.8%.