IBM and Northern Trust debut blockchain for private equity
Guernsey © Wikipedia
IBM and financial services firm Northern Trust have launched the “first commercial deployment” of blockchain for the private equity market.
The blockchain is based on the Hyperledger Fabric and is available for use for managing the administration of a private equity fund managed by Unigestion, a Switzerland-based asset manager with $20 billion in assets under management.
Justin Chapman, global head of market advocacy and research at Northern Trust, says: “This is an important first step to connecting participants much more effectively, including investors, managers, administrators, regulators, advisors and auditors.”
According to IBM, the blockchain network provides real-time insight and transparency to all parties, including the fund managers and investors as well as allowing regulatory access when required. The network has been designed to support compliance with current, local regulations. IBM says both government and regulator were kept informed during the development process.
Initially, Northern Trust will make the solution available to clients on a “selective basis”.
The fund is held in Guernsey (a British Crown dependency in the English Channel), where Northern Trust has been offering financial services since 1972.
