Credit Suisse Exec Says Bank Culture Holds Back Adoption of Blockchain

Head of digital market assets at Credit Suisse, Emmanuel Aidoo, said that the desire among financiers to maintain the status quo is holding back the adoption of blockchain technology, Business Insider reported on April 23.

In an interview with Business Insider, Aidoo said that banks’ unwillingness to adopt blockchain lies in culture within banks, and has nothing to do with the technology’s immaturity or a lack of potential use cases within financial organizations. Aidoo said:

"What is preventing the banking industry from rushing into it? I think it's mostly culture. I think the tipping point is about having an entrepreneurial culture, a willingness to push people to keep asking why."

Aidoo, however, added that this year the industry will see people taking an interest in the ways blockchain technology could benefit them in terms of cost profile, with some banks to begin more meaningful rollouts of blockchain-based products.

In February, global investment bank Credit Suisse and Portuguese Banco Best completed blockchain-based end-to-end fund transactions. Last March, Credit Suisse and Dutch-based ING financial service groups also successfully completed the first live transaction of 25 million euros ($28 million) in securities on R3’s Corda blockchain platform.

As recently published forecasts predict, global blockchain spending could reach almost $2.9 billion in 2019, which is an 88.7% increase from 2018. The financial sector will purportedly be the leading industry in terms of spending in blockchain development this year. Banking, securities, investment services and insurance services are forecasted to invest more than $1.1 billion out of the total global blockchain spending.