The Bangladesh branch of global banking firm HSBC has conducted the country’s first blockchain-based letter of credit transaction on the Contour DLT platform. The transaction was used to settle the importation of 20,000 tonnes of fuel oil from United Group’s Singapore subsidiary United Mymensingh Power. HSBC Bangaladesh’s chief executive, Md Mahbub ur Rahman, described the transaction as showcasing the bank’s commitment “to supporting cross-border trade by Bangladeshi businesses using cutting-edge technology platforms.” “I believe this will usher in a new era of routing international trade transactions as businesses and governments recognize transparency, security and swiftness in performing tasks using blockchain …
The Marco Polo Network, a trade finance network co-developed by major enterprise blockchain firm R3, has completed its largest finance trial. Built on R3’s open-source blockchain platform Corda, Marco Polo has hosted the largest global trade finance trial that involved over 70 organizations from 25 countries including financial giants like Japanese SBI Holdings, according to an official announcement on Dec. 12. 100% of respondents in the trial believe that blockchain has the potential to improve their industries As the trial has involved more than 340 participants from multiple industries ranging from financial services to automotive, the joint initiative purportedly intends …
Recently, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), with the participation of enterprise software company R3, successfully tested a blockchain project that will speed up real estate transactions. Such a solution can provide transparent and fast operations for the end user, R3 officials say. However, is it already possible to talk about a breakthrough in the market? How will the traditional process of real estate transactions and mortgage issuance change? Why did banks, skeptical before, change their attitude toward blockchain? And what are the risks for private blockchain platforms? Experts answer. Barclays and RBS’s solution as a response to …
Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) has announced it will pilot R3’s Marco Polo blockchain network for trade finance, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on May 8. As previously reported, Marco Polo — which is powered by R3’s Corda enterprise blockchain platform — counts major international banks such as BNP Paribas, ING and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation as members. Other prominent bank members include Standard Chartered Bank and NatWest, according to today’s press release. RBI has reportedly been eyeing expansion in the Central and Eastern Europe market, after reporting a consolidated profit of 1.27 billion euros (around $142 …
Update: this article has been updated to include statements made by Charley Cooper, managing director at R3. While last year R3 had implied that the company had a larger goal of raising $200 mln in funding, R3 told Fortune that the figure came from a now-cancelled plan to sell a stake in a research subsidiary. The unnamed former R3 employees told Fortune that the consortium’s internal financial targets are “10X short” of their revenue, with the figure described as “laughably off.” Charley Cooper, an R3 managing director, told Fortune that the company is not in danger of running out of …