Bank of Montreal, Teachers’ Pension Fund Trial Canadian Dollar Debt Deal via Blockchain

The Bank of Montreal and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan have tested a Canadian-dollar debt deal using blockchain, Bloomberg reports August 15.

In the pilot transaction, the bank is said to have sold $250 million Canadian dollars (around $190 million) of one-year floating rate deposit notes to the teachers’ pension fund, implementing blockchain tech to mirror the transaction. This is reportedly the first use of the technology for a Canadian dollar “fixed-income issue.”

Bloomberg notes that the Bank of Montreal’s BMO Capital Markets unit has built a prototype blockchain-based settlement system, which enables issuers and buyers to track transactions using the technology. The bank reportedly aims to harness the technology to secure major cost savings across compliance, financial reporting, and clearing and settlement of fiat transactions.

Kelsey Gunderson, head of global trading at BMO Capital Markets stated:

"This is an important first step in developing a fully functional blockchain capability that we think will eventually allow primary and secondary trading of securities."

This year has seen another bullish national first for a similar initiative on blockchain, this time for the U.S. dollar. In April, JPMorgan Chase, the National Bank of Canada and others used the Quorum blockchain platform to mirror the Canadian bank’s $150 million offering “on the same day of a one-year floating-rate Yankee certificate of deposit.”