A group of seven large European banks, Digital Trade Chain Consortium, have turned to IBM to build and host a new trade finance platform, based on IBM Blockchain powered by Hyperledger Fabric.
For the third day in a row we present a fintech funding round-up. The previous two were here and here. Our latest report features Blockchain, Julia Computing and Mswipe Technologies. We’ll begin with a confusing company name. Blockchain (yes, really), a UK-based software platform, has raised a Series B of $40 million with Lakestar and […]
Colu, a blockchain-powered platform provider, has unveiled its second currency in the UK – the “Local Pound, East London”. The firm’s idea is to provide people in East London with a digital, localised currency and so create a “closed-loop economy”. It uses Colu’s digital wallet app, and individuals can pay from a smartphone. It is […]
Don’t let the blocks cause you too much mental blockage. Our latest blockchain and Bitcoin round-up keeps it ultra-brief. Featuring Ayondo, XBT Provider, Xapo and the European Commission. Financial services firm Ayondo has expanded its product portfolio with the launch of Bitcoin trading, offering access to price movement without the need to open an e-wallet […]
Natixis Asset Management has started testing the FundsDLT blockchain-powered platform for fund managers. The FundsDLT concept, announced last December in Luxembourg, is a collaboration between Fundsquare, IT firm InTech and KPMG Luxembourg. The platform will enable asset managers to sell funds through a new distribution channel, while doing all the other usual blockchain stuff – […]
European banks are placing strategic bets in areas ranging from wealth management, lending, payments, regulatory technology, software, and blockchain. Which banks were the most active and what did they invest in?
American International Group (AIG), IBM and Standard Chartered have piloted the “first” multinational, smart contract based insurance policy using blockchain. The trio converted a controlled master policy written in the UK, and three local policies in the US, Singapore and Kenya, into a smart contract that provides a shared view of policy data and documentation […]
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has unveiled the second wave of firms that have made it into its regulatory sandbox. As reported in 2015, the sandbox allows businesses to test out new products and services without “incurring the normal regulatory consequences”. The move is part of the FCA’s Project Innovate, which aims to boost […]
Singapore Diamond Investment Exchange (SDiX) has teamed with Kynetix and Everledger to trial the “first-ever” blockchain verification and record-keeping service for diamond trading. SDiX, Kynetix, a physical commodity digitisation firm, and Everledger, a supplier of blockchain and distributed ledger (DLT) infrastructure, have completed the first part of their proof of concept. The technology is designed […]
Fintech titan Finastra is turning to IBM to power its banking operations with cloud and cognitive technologies. As reported yesterday (14 June), Misys and DH Corporation (D+H) joined forces to create Finastra, the third largest financial services technology company in the world. With Finastra now officially alive and kicking, it’s wasted no time in showing […]
Swiss core banking software vendor Avaloq is prepared to tap into the potential of blockchain and Bitcoin over the next 12 months as it seeks to experiment and innovate more in these areas.
Global funds transaction network Calastone says it has “successfully” completed the first phase of its blockchain distributed market infrastructure proof-of-concept (PoC).
TradeIX has launched its TIX Platform, the “first open platform” for trade finance powered by blockchain. The platform provides banks, alternative funders, business-to-business (B2B) networks, technology providers and corporates with a way to finance trade-related assets. Like everyone else commenting on trade finance, Rob Barnes, CEO of TradeIX, says the market has “high-cost, high-maintenance, time-consuming […]
From Russian banks to Greek lawyers. Our latest blockchain and Bitcoin report rounds up the news into a quick and easy read. Russian news agency TASS reports that Bank of Russia, the nation’s central bank, will develop a national cryptocurrency. At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2017, the regulator’s deputy chairperson Olga Skorobogatova says: […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Swedish financial services group SEB has selected Canada-based CGI’s Trade360 solution for trade finance and emerging digital technologies, such as blockchain. CGI Trade360 is a cloud-based transaction platform and includes a portal for end-to-end transaction management, including regulatory compliance. SEB is the first bank headquartered in Europe that will implement the solution. Robert Pehrson, head […]
R3 and four Japanese financial institutions (FIs) have joined forces to use blockchain in a derivatives prototype test. Nomura, Daiwa Securities Group, Mizuho, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and R3 have tested a prototype developed using Corda, R3’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform based on blockchain, to streamline International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) Master Agreement […]
DLA Piper’s John D. McGonagle speculates on what the rise of blockchain technology might mean for the future of banking, the feedback which the UK regulator FCA may receive from interested stakeholders, and some of the regulatory and legal hurdles which blockchain technology may need to negotiate in the near future.
A consortium of Spanish companies has created Red Lyra, the “first multisector technology platform in the world based on blockchain”. Lyra comprises fintech and non-fintech companies, professionals, and experts in blockchain. Its founding members include Banco Sabadell, Banco Santander, Bankia, BBVA, Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) and consulting firm Grant Thornton. In fact, just last […]
Spanish wholesale bank Cecabank and consulting firm Grant Thornton have created the first blockchain consortium in Spain. Called Blockchain Banking Consortium, the project intends to progressively develop the potential of blockchain in the financial sector, and according to the pair it presently comprises 33% of the Spanish banking sector. Luis Pastor, Grant Thornton technology and […]
The results from phase two of Canada’s plan for a blockchain-powered interbank payment system reveal that it still faces many obstacles. The Bank of Canada, Payments Canada, R3 and seven commercial banks, have disclosed their report from Project Jasper, an experimental wholesale interbank payment system. First launched in 2015, the results so far show that, […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group will start a venture next month to create new fintech businesses and catch up with its rivals, according to Reuters. As Banking Technology reported last month, Mizuho Financial Group, Mizuho Bank and IBM Japan teamed up to build a blockchain-based trade financing platform – and so edged commercialisation ever forward. So […]
BitPay, a 2017 Pay Award winner, said this week that it has released its BitPay Visa Prepaid Debit Card in 131 countries. The card “makes it possible for users to convert bitcoin into a spendable dollar, euro or pound balance” on the card in a matter of minutes, the company said.
Cut to the chase with this brief blockchain and Bitcoin round-up. Features Waves Platform, Everex and Bitcoin’s price surge. Moscow-based Waves has launched its Euro gateway, which will allow users of the platform to deposit and withdraw Euros directly from within the lite client, holding and trading them directly from their Waves accounts as WEUR […]
Blockchain consortium R3 has completed the first two of three tranches in its Series A fundraising round, securing $107 million in the “world’s largest distributed ledger technology (DLT) investment to date”. The consortia contest is heating up as this handy cash injection follows on from yesterday’s (22 May) announcement from the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) […]
Nasdaq and Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) have unveiled a new payment solution for automating reconciliation using Chain’s blockchain infrastructure platform. The solution enables straight through payment processing by using a distributed ledger to record and transmit payment instructions. A number of payment transactions have been done including Citi’s automated processing of cross-border payments […]
The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) has seen a surge of interest in its plans to drive Ethereum blockchain technology best practices with the arrival of 86 new members. New faces include Broadridge, DTCC, Deloitte, Infosys, MUFG, National Bank of Canada, Rabobank and Samsung SDS. As Banking Technology reported in March, Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Intel, […]
Citi has revealed the three winners from its Tech for Integrity Challenge (T4I) Demo Day in Dublin – all part of its plan to promote integrity, accountability and transparency in the public sector and beyond. Fintech developers from eight countries presented their working prototypes; and the “award recipients” from the Demo Day included: T4I Award […]
It was only two days ago since the last blockchain and Bitcoin round-up, but here’s more news to keep you in the loop. Features Ripple, BitGo, Abu Dhabi Global Market, R3 and Corion. Ripple has enjoyed a good start to the year with ten more financial institutions recently jumping onboard its blockchain network; and deals […]
IBM has launched its Blockchain Founder Accelerator to help enterprises and enterprise developers power up their blockchain networks. The programme provides one-on-one mentorship and support by network founders and technologists for business case development, network membership incentives, technical development, governance and legal issues. In addition, members of the Founder Accelerator will receive early access to […]
Payments compete for attention with “RegTech” while an overall lull in disruption suggests that fintech could be in the eye of a storm.
IBM and Chile’s Santiago Exchange, the largest in the country, have teamed up to introduce blockchain across the country’s financial sector. The agreement makes the Santiago Exchange the “first stock market in Latin America” to apply IBM blockchain within its short selling system for securities lending. Built by IBM and Santiago Exchange, the solution is […]
Indian IT firm Wipro has developed nine blockchain-based solutions for banking financial services and insurance (BFSI), manufacturing, retail and consumer goods industries. The solutions were defined, designed and co-developed with Wipro’s clients in its blockchain innovation lab. In terms of fintech and insurtech, these concepts include trade finance and P2P insurance for the “sharing economy” […]
Quickly following on from the cash flow glow of 15 May, here’s another fintech funding round-up. Features Additiv, BZ Bank, Symphony, BNP Parabis and IOTA. Zurich-based digital finance provider Additiv knows how to stay healthy as it has secured its first capital investment funding round of CHF 21 million ($21.3 million). The round was headed […]
The world moves fast, so you need a fast read. A round-up of key events in the blockchain and Bitcoin arena. Featuring Coinsilium Group, SatoshiPay, Aragon, ShapeShift and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Blockchain accelerator Coinsilium Group reveals that SatoshiPay, a “nano-payments” company in which Coinsilium has a 12.08% equity interest, has added PayPal as a new […]
Anyone that picks up any business publication has no doubt read about blockchain. Conceptualised around the same time as the financial crisis in 2008, blockchain as originally conceived served as a digital ledger to publicly record cryptocurrency transactions and execute contracts.
SAP has launched a blockchain platform – “ready-to-use blockchain technology” – in the SAP cloud.
SAP has made a raft of announcements (and promises) at its annual Sapphire conference in Orlando, Florida. Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, says the company continues to be committed to its “empathy” strategy unveiled last year and the time is now for “the urgency of action”. The vendor has unveiled its new SAP Leonardo platform […]
Brevity and celerity. It’s our latest fintech funding round-up for a quick fix – featuring Axoni, Citi, MarketInvoice, Banco BNI Europa, Alibaba and Qupital. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) provider Axoni has revealed that Citi has joined its Series A funding round, bringing the total amount raised to over $20 million. Citi joins a group of […]
