Blockchain


Ecobank launches fintech challenge for start-ups

Pan-African banking conglomerate Ecobank has launched a fintech challenge for start-ups. The event, open to Africa’s entrepreneurs, innovators and developers, provides an opportunity to win $500,000 in funding as well as partner with Ecobank and roll out services across 36 countries.

Deutsche Börse goes blockchain for cash transfers

Deutsche Börse has developed a concept for the “riskless” transfer of commercial bank money via an infrastructure based on distributed ledger technology (DLT)/blockchain. By combining blockchain with its post-trade infrastructure, Deutsche Börse says the same as everyone else – such as it will “achieve efficiencies” and will investigate “possible new business opportunities”. Via collateralisation at […]

Deloitte opens blockchain lab in Dublin

Deloitte has launched its new EMEA blockchain lab at Whitaker Court in Dublin’s “Silicon Docks” district in the Republic of Ireland. The new lab follows Deloitte’s recent lab launch in New York. At that time, Eric Piscini, principal with Deloitte Consulting, said 2017 could be its “make-or-break year” for blockchain. The Dublin-based blockchain team will […]

IBM: AI needs more than just technology

Artificial intelligence (AI) on its own isn’t enough to compete – companies need industry-specific solutions to business problems. So said Martin Schroeter, IBM’s senior vice-president and chief financial officer, on the company’s quarterly earnings call.

HSBC to capitalise on tech innovation with technology advisory board

HSBC has appointed a technology advisory board of top-level specialists from around the globe as the banking giant is keen to capitalise on opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), biometrics, blockchain and data science, combat cybercrime and leverage its global infrastructure.

RBI investigates blockchain for financial applications in India

The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has recently issued a whitepaper, “Applications of Blockchain Technology to Banking and Financial Sector in India”. We summarise the report and highlight the key findings.

Blockchain incubator Adel unveils P2P retail banking network

Blockchain incubator Adel has unveiled its project framework for people to create a peer-to-peer (P2P) network in retail banking. The firm says it will work in the “same way as Airbnb and Uber revolutionised the hospitality and taxi industries”. “Anyone with a car can be a taxi. Anyone with accommodations can be a hotel. Anyone […]

Deloitte opens blockchain lab in New York

Deloitte has launched a blockchain lab in New York’s Wall Street. 2017 could be its “make-or-break year” for blockchain, says Eric Piscini, principal with Deloitte Consulting. Joe Guastella, another principal with Deloitte Consulting, says its “ecosystem for education, ideation [we missed you jargon], strategy, application prototyping and development is there to support Deloitte’s clients and […]

Axis first bank in India to use Ripple’s blockchain network

Axis Bank has become the first bank in India to use Ripple’s blockchain network for cross-border payments. The bank, the third largest in the private sector, will use the network for real-time settlement as it targets future growth. Amit Sethi, president and CIO at Axis Bank, says: “We will come out with solutions for our […]

Will Starbucks make Bitcoin mainstream?

In the latest sign that Bitcoin is moving into the mainstream, iPayYou, a US-based platform, said its technology now will enable coffee and food purchases at Starbucks, a chain typically associated with middle- and upper-class urban and suburban lifestyles, reports Paybefore. The partnership comes as Bitcoin approaches new highs, with its price shooting past $1,100 […]

DTCC selects IBM, Axoni and R3 to develop blockchain for derivatives

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has chosen IBM, in partnership with Axoni and R3, to provide a blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) framework to drive improvements in derivatives post-trade lifecycle events. The firms will work on DTCC’s Trade Information Warehouse (TIW), building a derivatives distributed ledger solution for post-trade processing. The TIW service currently […]

Top ten blockchain stories in 2016

It felt like there was a blockchain story every day in 2016, but we look back at some of the bigger stories with Banking Technology’s top ten! Microsoft and AMIS launch Asia’s first blockchain consortium Microsoft says it is also in “collaboration” with banks such as Ubon Financial, Cathay Financial Holdings and MegaBank to further […]

Fintech funding round-up: 20 December 2016

Because you’ve all been so good this year, here’s a fintech funding round-up to save you time… so you can eat and drink more over Christmas. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and a group of other financial institutions including ICAP’s venture arm are finalising an investment in blockchain start-up Axoni, according to Reuters. New York-based […]

Euroclear and Paxos pilot blockchain gold settlement

Central securities depositary Euroclear and blockchain firm Paxos have completed the first pilot for Euroclear Bankchain, a new blockchain settlement service for London bullion due to go live in 2017. Over 600 OTC test bullion trades were settled on the Euroclear Bankchain platform over the course of the two-week pilot. Angus Scott, director, product strategy […]

ICAP looks to blockchain for FX trades

ICAP, a UK-based financial services firm, is jumping on the bandwagon and getting ready to process foreign exchange (FX) trades on blockchain, according to the Financial Times. As Banking Technology reported earlier this year, ICAP’s post trade risk and information division completed a proof of technology test case for blockchain – so its interest is […]

ABN Amro pilots blockchain in commercial real estate

Amsterdam-based ABN Amro Bank has launched a pilot to explore how its blockchain application Torch can be used in real estate transactions to record and exchange information. The bank says real estate transactions involve numerous parties, such as buyers, sellers, tenants, landlords, appraisers, notaries, banks, the Land Registry Office, the Chamber of Commerce and regulators. […]

Microsoft and AMIS launch Asia’s first blockchain consortium

Microsoft has teamed with AMIS and the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan (ITRI) to form Asia’s “first” consortium blockchain network on Azure. They will use AMIS’s blockchain solutions with Azure as the cloud platform – “the only platform with BaaS” (Banking-as-a-Service). Azure will provide public, private and hybrid cloud models; and business and technical […]

Blockchain: a real opportunity for retail financial services

Given the pace of change and innovation underway in traditional industries it would take a brave person to predict how the finance industry will look in five years’ time, however I don’t believe high street banks will disappear and be replaced by online blockchain alternatives, the regulatory hurdles are just too high.

IBM launches blockchain ecosystem on Hyperledger Fabric

IBM has unveiled a blockchain ecosystem “to help accelerate the creation of blockchain networks”. The programme “is designed for innovators looking to build real networks – venture capitalists, start-ups, systems integrators, independent software vendors and enterprise developers”.

Japan Exchange Group unveils blockchain consortium

Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), Osaka Exchange OSE) and Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) will form a blockchain consortium of Japanese financial institutions. All three are part of Japan Exchange Group (JPX) and will continue to conduct proof-of-concept (PoC) testing based on past findings and discuss the possibility of applying blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) […]

Hackers hold Valartis Bank customers to Bitcoin ransom

Customers of Valartis Bank in Liechtenstein are being held to ransom by hackers, according to German tabloid Bild. The blackmailers are demanding 10% of their account balances in Bitcoin or the customers face their personal details being sent to the media and financial watchdogs. An unusual threat but the hackers might feel the bank’s customers, […]

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