International Corporate Finance

INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE FINANCE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Jun

2014

 LHV Pank

Oct

2013

 Fidor Bank

Dec

2014

 Rabobank

 ING

 ABN Amro

Sep

2014

 CBW Bank

 Cross River Bank

Mar

2015

 Barclays

 US Federal

Reserve

Jan

2015

 BBVA Compass

May

2015

 Commerz Bank

 DBS

 Euro Banking

Association

Apr

2015

 UBS

Jul

2015

 Deutsche Bank

 Citi

 Standard Chartered

 BNP Paribas

 Societe Generale

Jun

2015

 Santandar

 ANZ

 Westpac

Oct

2015

 Nasdaq

 VISA

Sep

2015

 Bank of America

Nov

2015

 RBC

 25+ FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ADOPTED BLOCKCHAIN IN 2014 AND 2015

Increased focus on cost reduction and ope-

rational efficiency is no longer just a notion

associated with large manufacturing corpo-

rations. The rise of private peer-to-peer tech-

nology lenders continues to put pressure on

the profitability of the conventional banking

system. One possible solution is technologi-

cal advancement that would allow banks to

reduce costs and improve upon transactional

efficiency in order to remain competitive.

Banks around the globe are increasingly

evaluating the potential of Blockchain as an

alternative to many transactional systems

currently in place, and many have joined

up with Fintech businesses to redefine their

banking services. More recently, it was touted

by the Financial Times that Singapore’s

banks have become a hotbed for Fintech, as

Standard Chartered and DBS bank embar-

ked on a government-backed partnership to

use Blockchain – the technology behind the

cryptocurrency Bitcoin – for trade finance

transactions.

Since 2013, many banks and financial ins-

titutions across the globe have embarked

upon the journey of adopting Blockchain

to transform or enhance their current pro-

duct offering. However, the potential of

Blockchain extends far beyond redefining

the banking system, and many tech star-

tups have already begun to capitalize on

some of the benefits that this technology

has to offer. Companies like BitShares,

DXMarkets and Secure Assets are using

the technology for digital security trading,

while Blockai, Artplus, and Bitproof are

using it to store proof of ownership for

digital content. Similarly, Storj is using

Blockchain to offer decentralized storage

solutions using a network of computers,

while ePlug is using it to provide decen-

tralized internet and computing resources

to every home and business.

Given the rise in popularity of this tech-

nology, Microsoft has recently announced

its Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) offering

for enterprises to develop, test and de-

ploy Blockchain applications. Today, 20

different types of uses of Blockchain have

been cited by Let’s Talk Payments, a com-

pany that specializes in research on the

global Fintech sector. How this technolo-

gy will evolve further, is a mystery yet to

be solved.

The Use of Blockchain in Banking and Beyond

Blockchain adoption timeline 2013-15

 GAINING IN POPULARITY

Digitization of Documents

& Contracts

Digital Security Trading

Digital Identity for Consumer

Privacy Protection

Digitize Assets

to Reduce Counterfeit

Marketplace for Sale

and Purchase of Assets

Permanent Record of Proof

of Ownership

Decentralized Storage

Uses of Blockchain

Source: "Let’s Talk Payments"

Source: "Let’s Talk Payments"