BNP Paribas testing blockchain for clients' transactional banking
Bank BNP Paribas announced that it has entered “co-development mode” with clients to test a range of blockchain applications for transactional banking. The clients include Sucafina, Solvay, Pacorini Group and the DFDS Group and the projects, which resulted from BNP Paribas’ first-ever Blockchain Bizhackathon event earlier in 2016, will work on the traceability, reliability and security of corporate transactions, leading to applications in letters of credit, international payment and collateral management.

BNP Paribas says it has entered 'co-development mode' with clients to pilot a number of blockchain applications for transaction banking, after embarking on a collaborative process during its ‘Blockchain Bizhackathon’ earlier this year.

The bank is currently working with a number of corporate clients, including Solvay, Sucafina, Pacorini Group and the DFDS Group, on various projects to improve the reliability, traceability and security of corporate transactions.



Applications in international payments, letters of credit, and collateral management are all in the pipeline, says Jacques Levet, head of transaction banking, Emea at BNP Paribas.



“We’re delighted with the success of this first-ever Bizhackathon, which resulted in these innovative projects, all sharing one basic feature - that they are being co-developed hand-in-hand with our clients," he says. "Based on the highly-promising blockchain technology, these projects stem from close collaboration between BNP Paribas transversal teams, our clients and Blockchain experts."



The collateral management project, dubbed Collat'Shaker, is designed to enable more efficient international trade transactions involving commodities, by providing a common status on the transaction to all participants in the deal.



According to Sucafina CEO Nicolas Tamari: “Collat’Shaker is offering an innovative service for sharing and management of positions with our partners, in real time, bringing all the parties involved in a given transaction closer together. This tool, which is highly intuitive and easy to use, provides an effective and efficient response to the issues that our industry has to cope with.”