Deloitte Luxembourg has developed a proof of concept for regulatory transaction reporting in a distributed ledger technology (DLT) environment. In its DLT proof of concept, counterparties of the transaction will seal and report their deal using a smart contract, whose terms include all the aspects needed for the transaction reporting. The regulators will be able […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Swift seeks stronger network security Strikes back after hacks. IBM to open blockchain innovation centre in Singapore Big Blue stays true to blockchain. Starling Bank gets UK banking licence Aims to launch to customers by January 2017. Unibank […]
With news on blockchain and Bitcoin appearing thick and fast, here’s a round-up of key events to save you time. Bitcoin has got some love in Russia when the centre-right Party of Growth says it is open to accepting donations in the digital currency. Boris Titov, head of the party, who also acts as an […]
Decentralised financial platform provider Nxt has developed Ardor, the “first ever” scalable platform using blockchain. The Netherlands-based firm says Ardor, which is available from tomorrow (14 July), is designed to function beyond financial exchanges and will be “open to everyone”, including individual users, start-ups, banks and governments. Dave Pearce, director at Nxt Foundation, says: “Ardor […]
South African heavyweight Absa is the first bank in Africa to join New York-based R3’s blockchain consortium. Absa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Barclays Africa Group Limited, will be working with over 50 banks to design and deliver distributed ledger technologies to global financial markets. On the back of its membership, Absa will also be […]
IBM plans to establish the “first” IBM Center for Blockchain Innovation in Singapore. The firm says this is the first collaboration of its kind with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). IBM researchers will work with government, industries and academia to develop applications and solutions which are based […]
Payment provider Worldline and Luxembourg-based start-up SnapSwap have signed a partnership agreement for the latter’s mobile payment application Gloneta. Gloneta combines a mobile messenger (chat) with cross-currency transactions using blockchain. Worldline says it will “provide” secure card payments services to the new app Gloneta. Denis Kiselev, founder and CEO of SnapSwap, says: “Worldline’s expertise in […]
Brazil’s Banco Bradesco is planning to start trials for a blockchain-based digital wallet service, as it looks to streamline operations and reduce costs. The service is being developed by Brazilian start-up eWally, discovered via Bradesco’s own innovation programme InovaBRA. Marcelo Frontini, MD at Scopus IT and part of Bradesco’s innovation department, says trials should start […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Brexit: keep calm and carry on We assemble a panel of fintech and law specialists to discuss – with cool heads – the challenges and opportunities. Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up A round-up of key developments to save you […]
With news on blockchain and Bitcoin appearing thick and fast, here’s a round-up of key events to save you time. In Switzerland, the city of Zug, is piloting the acceptance of Bitcoin for payments. From 1 July, residents could start to pay their taxes, fees and fines with the digital currency. The project is part […]
Japan-based software development firm Infoteria says it has “successfully” used blockchain for microfinance transactions in Myanmar – the “first time in the world”. The test was carried out on the computer system of Yangon-based BC Finance, Myanmar’s largest microfinance company. Infoteria says the data in question comprises spreadsheet software rather than specialty systems; and transactions […]
The Bank of Russia, the country’s central bank, has set up a blockchain research consortium with several privately-owned Russian banks. The development follows Banking Technology reporting recently that Russian payment platform Qiwi was planning to create such an entity. The central bank’s deputy governor Olga Skorobogatova says: “We developed a technical prototype for message transmission […]
Bitso, Quotanda and Destacame have won the first Innotribe Start-up Challenge for Latin America – and a handy prize of $10,000 each. The event was held in Mexico City in partnership with Swift’s Latin America Regional Conference (LARC). Based in Mexico, Bitso connects the nation’s “traditional” banking infrastructure to bitcoin and blockchain for international cross-border […]
The Dutch government is to open a new campus for the development of blockchain to attract banks and financial institutions. At a media briefing by Holland Fintech and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the first official “Fintech Ambassador of the Netherlands”, Willem Vermeend (also a professor in economics and former minister of social affairs and employment), […]
Blockchain is disrupting the financial services (FS) industry. Deloitte recently called it one of the year’s most controversial and debated topics. Yet, despite the hundreds of millions being invested in blockchain technology by companies from all industries across the globe, there is still much confusion around how the technology works and the effects it will […]
IBM and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa have completed their first blockchain project to “improve” the French bank’s ability to verify customer identity. The result of the pilot is an operational permissioned blockchain network that provides a view of customer identity to enable compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. “Blockchain is a transformative agent in our […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Brexit threat to UK jobs at Visa Should I stay or should I go? Swift hackers steal $10m from Ukraine bank Massive attack. New challenger bank readies for launch in UK Atten-shun! UK military personnel, veterans and their […]
IBM has opened a new Bluemix Garage in New York, to offer the city’s developers, entrepreneurs, and fintech firms the use of blockchain on the cloud. The garage will be located at Galvanize’s (a network of campuses) newly launched New York campus. IBM says this location in “this tech learning community for students, start-ups and […]
This great infographics, created by BTC Media, maps out the bitcoin and blockchain ecosystem of 2016 – it is a crowded metropolis! Click on the image to enlarge. Source: BTC Media, LLC
Canada’s ATB Financial sent €666.67 to ReiseBank in Germany using Ripple technology, with the transaction completing in eight seconds. The participants say this is the world’s first bank transfer using blockchain. SAP, which provides ATB with its core banking software, and Accenture (SAP’s partner and system integrator at ATB) were also involved in the project. […]
A host of major banks have adopted Ripple to improve their cross-border payments, the vendor says, and many have completed trial blockchain projects. The latest banks to join Ripple’s network are Santander, UniCredit, UBS, ReiseBank, CIBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and ATB Financial. Ripple says its network now includes 12 of the top […]
The participants are BNP Paribas Securities Services, Caisse des Dépôts, Euroclear, Euronext, S2iEM, Société Générale and Paris Europlace. They have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to study and develop a post-trade blockchain infrastructure for SMEs in Europe. The agreement is open to other interested parties. The aim is “to improve SME’s access to capital […]
The Bank of England (BoE) will launch its own fintech accelerator to harness innovation for central banking. Fintech firms will be invited to carry out a proof of concept with the BoE. The bank will then act as a reference site for these companies. The BoE says it “will offer firms the chance to demonstrate […]
Asset management firm Robeco has released its findings and views on the much-discussed subject of blockchain. The overall theme is to be sensible, study the facts and not fall for the hype when it comes to this emerging technology. The report, “Distributed ledger technology for the financial industry. Blockchain administration 3.0”, has been created by […]
India-based uTrade Solutions has launched uClear, a blockchain tech solution for real-time clearing and settlement for financial markets. The first taker is Global Markets Exchange (GMEX) Group. It will integrate uClear next month through its GMEX Technologies subsidiary and with the support of its development partner, Forum Trading Solutions. Hirander Misra, CEO of GMEX Group […]
Standard Chartered has compiled a report questioning whether blockchain could disrupt the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Target2Securities (T2S) project. T2S aims to standardise European cross-border trade settlement by integrating securities and cash accounts onto a single IT platform. Not only blockchain could play a material role in this project, some analysts suggest, but it could […]
US-based Gemini Bitcoin exchange has expanded its services to Canada. Gemini, founded by the Winklevoss twins (Cameron and Tyler, who were memorably depicted in the film The Social Network), says registered customers in Canada can trade bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) on Gemini’s ETH/BTC order book. Cameron Winklevoss says this is “just the beginning of […]
US-based Swirlds has launched its hashgraph distributed consensus platform, an alternative to blockchain, and free for public download and use by developers. Swirlds says it has “emerged from stealth” with the launch and says its hashgraph “goes beyond blockchain”. Dr. Leemon Baird, founder and CEO of Swirlds, says: “Current stock markets are fair in matching […]
Volante Technologies has launched a new solution – as part of its VolPay Foundation payments platform – for integration with Ripple’s distributed ledger technology. Volante’s software has been Ripple-ready since last autumn, says the vendor, and following “close engagement with Ripple” it has now brought to market an “integration solution wholly designed to simplify the […]
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippine central bank, is strengthening its cyber security surveillance in light of the recent Swift hacking saga. Nestor Espenilla, the central bank deputy governor in charge of banking supervision, says it wants to reinforce its defences and is also considering regulating Bitcoin firms due to money laundering issues. This development […]
It’s difficult to avoid writing about distributed ledger technologies, so we won’t. Last month Australian Craig Wright claimed to be the elusive inventor of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. Displaying uncharacteristic scepticism, many mainstream media outlets doubted his claims. Whether it’s true or not, the story attracted great interest. Distributed ledger, blockchain (some argue the two are […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! ECB goes to tender for new treasury management system After many years it’s time for a change. Microsoft unveils blockchain-based identity system Inspired by the United Nations’ ID2020 Summit on Identity. Student Loans Company puts IT contract with […]
Russian payment platform Qiwi is planning to create a blockchain consortium with the nation’s largest banks as its members. According to Russian publication Izvestia, Qiwi will develop standards for the application of blockchain and it has invited B&N Bank, Alfa Bank and Sberbank to join. Dmitry Kashtanov, head of digital business at B&N Bank, says […]
Microsoft is collaborating with Blockstack Labs and ConsenSys, and developers across the globe on an open source, self-sovereign, blockchain-based identity system. The announcement by Microsoft follows its participation at the United Nations’ ID2020 Summit on Identity. Yorke Rhodes, blockchain business strategist, Microsoft, says: “Without legal identification, children and people are invisible to society which makes […]
PayPal has filed a US patent application for a modular payment module that accepts Bitcoin and other digital currencies. The application names Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dogecoin; and sets out the physical characteristics of the module. It says: “The module includes a chassis which has a modular device connector. A payment database in the chassis stores […]
Intel has teamed with The Floor, a fintech hub located at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, to create its own fintech innovation centre in Israel. This is Intel’s first move into the fintech sector as it looks to capitalise on the demand for bitcoin and blockchain solutions in banking and finance. It may also be […]
SETL, the institutional payment and settlement infrastructure based on blockchain, has launched its OpenCSD platform. The blockchain-powered platform, SETL’s first commercial offering, enables any market participant to commission and run a permissioned registry service for payments, settlement and clearing of cash and other “financial instruments”. It has been benchmarked to “settle billions of transactions a […]
Swedish bitcoin firm KnCMiner has filed for bankruptcy due to impending taxes and market uncertainty. Sam Cole, CEO at KnCMiner, says 44% of its income goes to energy taxes and there have been doubts about the future of the bitcoin mining market. In an interview with Swedish website Breakit.se, Cole says: “We knew there were […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Swift hacks sees 12 more banks under attack A fast moving chain of events. High five for Apple Pay in Singapore Big banks onboard include OCBC and Standard Chartered. NYSE launches new trading tech platform, NYSE Pillar The […]
Santander says it is the “first” UK bank to introduce blockchain for international payments through a new app. It is currently being rolled out as a staff pilot, with the intention to expand the technology “at a later date”. Sigga Sigurdardottir, head of customer and innovation at Santander, says: “The need for finance has evolved […]
