IBM rolls out cross-border blockchain solution
Written by Anthony Strzalek
16/10/2017
IBM, in partnership with Stellar.org and KlickEx Group, has announced the unveiling of a new blockchain banking solution that aims to help financial institutions address the processes of universal cross-border payments.
The IBM blockchain solution is designed to reduce the settlement time and lower the cost of completing global payments for businesses and consumers. It is intended to improve the speed in which banks both clear and settle payment transactions on a single network in near real time.
At the moment, making international payments can be costly, laborious and error-prone. Transactions in different currencies can require multiple intermediaries and take days or weeks to complete. According to the World Bank, initiatives to modernise payments and provide financial access could improve the flow of currency and commerce, and help achieve the goal of extending financial services to one billion people by 2020.
The solution is already processing live transactions in 12 currency corridors across the Pacific Islands and Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Using a blockchain distributed ledger, all appropriate parties have access and insight into the clearing and settlement of financial transactions.
IBM has convened an initial group of banks as part of the development and deployment process, including Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Bank Danamon Indonesia, Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Permata, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Kasikornbank Thailand, Mizuho Financial Group, National Australia Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Philippines, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, TD Bank, Wizdraw (HK) of WorldCom Finance, and other financial institutions.
Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president of IBM Industry Platforms, said: “With the guidance of some of the world’s leading financial institutions, IBM is working to explore new ways to make payment networks more efficient and transparent so that banking can happen in real-time, even in the most remote parts of the world.
“Making distributed ledger technologies more interoperable is the latest example of IBM’s leadership driving the rapid advancement of blockchain.”
