Commerzbank, Siemens and Continental Complete Blockchain Money Market Pilot

German banking and financial services company Commerzbank and technology companies Continental and Siemens have jointly conducted a money market security transaction pilot using blockchain technology. Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reported on the development on Feb. 21.

Money market securities are short-terms assets that serve for financing companies and usually have a maturity of one year or less. Usually, the processing of a payment takes two days due to a clearing process.

The aforementioned parties “for the first time” conducted a blockchain-based money market security transaction worth 100,000 euro ($113,340) within a pilot project in January, where Continental acted as the issuer of the security, Commerzbank provided R3’s Corda-based blockchain platform, while Siemens subscribed to the money market security as an investor.

The blockchain-powered platform reportedly allowed the companies to improved flexibility, efficiency and transparency in the deal. Speaking about other benefits of the transaction, Peter Rathgeb, Corporate Treasurer at Siemens, said in a Feb. 21 press release:

“The significantly shorter throughput times and faster time-to-market show clear advantages of this technology [blockchain]. Key challenges include security and performance issues, as well as legal issues such as the need to create a consistent European standard and understanding of the law on blockchain-based transactions.”

In late 2018, Commerzbank in collaboration with French corporate and investment bank Natixis, and Dutch financial services firm Rabobank completed a live 100,000 euro ($113,340) commercial paper transaction on the Corda platform. Commerzbank developed the pilot framework, software and distributed ledger (DLT) network for the trade, and instructions on regulatory implications.

Previously, Siemens joined a scalable blockchain platform, the Energy Web Foundation (EWF), to promote the use of decentralized technologies in the energy sector. Siemens officials reportedly argued that blockchain technology will help increase interoperability in the area, linking consumers with energy producers and network operators.