Credit Suisse advances with syndicated loans blockchain PoC
Credit Suisse and blockchain consortium R3 have combined with Synaps Loans, a joint-venture between Ipreo and Symbiont, to create a successful blockchain proof of concept that reduces settlement time for syndicated loans. The project has most of the required functionality and in the coming months the final touches will be added to support "syndicated loan facility from origination to payment", said Emmanuel Aidoo, head of distributed ledger and blockchain at Credit Suisse.

The demonstration was organized by Credit Suisse and R3, which are working with Synaps on the syndicated loans blockchain solution. Synaps combined Symbiont smart contract technology and Ipreo’s business process platform to speed up loan trade settlement.

Emmanuel Aidoo, head of the distributed ledger and blockchain at Credit Suisse, said the demonstration shows Synaps and its partners can move toward the final stages of development.

“Synaps now has the majority of the functionality needed to implement blockchain technology at scale in the syndicated loan market, which enables us to move into the final stages of development,” Aidoo said. “Over the coming months, we will work with Symbiont and Ipreo to implement the remaining functions to allow for distributed-ledger technology to support a syndicated loan facility from origination to payment, and work toward market adoption.”

Among the 19 participants in the demonstration were Barclays, BBVA, Danske Bank, LSTA, Royal Bank of Scotland, Scotiabank, Societe Generale, State Street, TenDelta, US Bank, and Wells Fargo. They were joined by AllianceBernstein, Eaton Vance Management, KKR, and Oak Hill Advisors.

The proof-of-concept demonstration was first announced in September last year. It aimed to determine ways to cut down on settlement time for a large multiparty syndicated loan. Loan investors will have direct access to a system of record for syndicated loan data that will reduce manual reviews, data re-entry, and reconciliation.