IBM, KlickEx Group and Stellar unveil cross-border payments solution
IBM and friends launch cross-border payments solution on blockchain
IBM, KlickEx Group, a regional financial services company, and Stellar, a non-profit organisation that supports an open source blockchain network, have unveiled a new regional cross-border payments solution using IBM’s blockchain technology to provide clearing and settlement of trades on a single network in real time.
IBM says making international payments in developing countries “can be costly, laborious and error-prone” and transactions in different currencies can require “multiple intermediaries and take days or weeks to complete”.
According to Big Blue, its universal payments solution is intended to simplify the way funds are exchanged around the world, and to “reduce settlement time from days to seconds”.
Jed McCaleb, co-founder of Stellar, says: “For the first time, public blockchain technology is being used in production to facilitate cross-border payments in multiple integrated currency corridors.
“The new implementation is poised to start a profound change in the South Pacific nations, and once fully scaled by IBM and its banking partners, it could potentially change the way money is moved around the world, helping to improve existing international transactions and advancing financial inclusion in developing nations.”
The solution integrates the IBM Blockchain Platform, which runs on Hyperledger Fabric, with the Stellar network. The latter is purpose-built for the issuance and exchange of digital assets. KlickEx Group serves as the founding financial institution for the region, servicing banks, retail clients and consumers.
The solution is already in production supporting transactions in 12 currency corridors across the Pacific Islands and Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
IBM adds that the network is currently in use by Advanced Pacific Financial Infrastructure for Inclusion (APFII) members, a public-private partnership initially funded by the United Nations and Swift. It will process up to 60% of all cross-border payments in the South Pacific’s retail foreign exchange corridors including Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga by early next year.
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