Lithuania’s central bank, Bank of Lithuania, has selected technology behemoth IBM and IT services firm Tieto as the finalists contending to develop its blockchain platform. Financial technology news outlet FintechFutures reported on the contest’s developments on Oct. 23. Per the report, both firms will test their platform and the winner will be selected later in 2019 as part of the project dubbed LBChain. The project's manager at the Bank of Lithuania Andrius Adamonis commented: “The final testing session will show which solution is most suitable for market needs. [...] We believe that the greatest advantage of LBChain is its versatility. …

Archax, a London-based digital securities exchange, will use blockchain software firm R3’s Corda technology to manage post-trade activities. On Oct. 18, Archax announced in a press release that its post-trade processes will now run on distributed ledger technology. Archax will use a private version of Corda Enterprise within its own ecosystem. Graham Rodford, CEO of Archax, said that current post-trade processes in traditional financial markets involve many intermediaries, making them highly inefficient. Rodford said that using blockchain technology will make markets more efficient. Post-trade processes occur after a trade is complete, wherein a buyer and seller of a security approve …

Twenty-eight organizations including Raiffeisen and 17 other banks have participated in the successful completion of the Ivno Global Tokenized Collateral Trial. This is the first global token trial on the R3 Corda platform, hosted on Microsoft Azure, as reported on Oct. 17. Efficiencies in tokenized collateral The trial, conducted by London-based Ivno, saw the participating organizations create $18 billion of Trial Tokens, and transfer them through the Ivno network. This was a live demonstration of how mobile collateral tokens can be used for instant settlement, collateral management and effective cash transfer. Ivno’s platform is designed to improve efficiency and create …

The Italian Banking Association (ABI) successfully processed the reconciliation data of an entire year of local banking activity on a blockchain platform. The association announced the successful test of the Spunta Project’s system in a press release published on Oct. 12. The successful test of the framework has been first announced by Italian media at the end of September though with little details. Platform viability has been demonstrated Now ABI reveals that the test has seen 200 million data entries being processed by the blockchain banking reconciliation system, effectively simulating one year of Italian banking activity. The successful test allegedly …

Alfa-Bank and Novolipetsk Steel Company (NLMK), in cooperation with Commerzbank and Vesuvius GmbH, are piloting Russia-Germany cross-border payments on R3’s Marco Polo network. Powered by R3’s Marco Polo Blockchain Global Trade Network On Oct. 11, Alfa-Bank announced that it is launching a foreign trade finance pilot transaction, with the cooperation of NLMK, Commerzbank and Vesuvius GmbH using R3’s Corda-powered Marco Polo Network. In the announcement, Alfa-Bank described itself as Russia’s largest financial institution measured by total assets, total equity, deposit and loan portfolios. The cross-border payment pilot aims to build a digital end-to-end trade finance and supply chain finance solution …

Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG and mechanical engineering firm Dürr AG have conducted a pilot transaction on blockchain software firm R3’s Marco Polo trade finance network. According to a press release published on Sept. 25, the transaction between Daimler and Dürr included the order and delivery agreement from Dürr’s subsidiary Schenck, wherein the payment was secured by a conditional payment commitment by the buyer’s bank. Marco Polo founding member LBBW provided the financing and payment commitment. Once the equipment was delivered, the system automatically uploaded the order fulfillment information and adjusted it with previously agreed transaction data. Fast and efficient …

Mastercard partnered with blockchain firm R3 to develop a cross-border payment solution. According to a Mastercard press release published on Sept. 1, the two firms plan to pilot a new blockchain-enabled cross-border payment solution. The system will reportedly focus on connecting global faster payments infrastructures, schemes and banks. Multiple ways to move money Per the release, the announcement is part of Mastercard’s plans to strengthen its cross border payments network, building on its acquisition of global payments company Transfast earlier this year. The partnership with R3 is part of the payment giant’s multi-rail strategy, which sees customers choosing how their …

American financial services giant Mastercard has joined blockchain software company R3’s Corda-powered Marco Polo Network for trade finance. In a news release published on Sept. 3, Mastercard revealed its participation in the project, a collaboration of R3 and Irish tech company TradeIX that launched in 2017. The initiative provides a multi-asset class platform that offers broker-dealer services and multicurrency transactions, among other services. The company’s Mastercard Track platform for business-to-business global trade has collaborated with Marco Polo in an attempt to facilitate further development and more working capital finance solutions. Jacques Levet, transaction banking head of Europe, the Middle East …

Banking and financial services giant HSBC has completed the first yuan-denominated letter of credit transaction on a blockchain using the Voltron trade finance platform. As Reuters reported on Sept. 2, HSBC conducted the first blockchain-based yuan-denominated letter of credit transaction deploying R3’s Corda-powered Voltron platform. In the cross-border transaction, Hong Kong-based electronics manufacturer MTC Electronics exported a shipment of LCD products to its parent firm Shenzhen MTC. 24 hours instead of ten days The blockchain platform ostensibly enabled the parties to exchange electronic documents in 24 hours instead of the regular five to 10 days required for traditional document exchanges. …

Dubai-based fintech company Wethaq has entered into a strategic partnership with enterprise software firm R3, in order to create a platform for issuing and trading sukuk securities based on R3’s Corda offering. A platform for Islamic securities According to a press release on Aug. 28, Wethaq’s platform is built on R3’s open source enterprise blockchain platform Corda, and the company has been taking steps to ensure that it is likewise compliant with Sharia Law. Wethaq’s platform is reportedly designed to improve the market infrastructure for issuing and trading sukuk securities. Sukuk is heavily regulated and demands a considerable amount of …

The Kerala Blockchain Academy (KBA), a government initiative under the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, is now a general partner of R3. Local news outlet The Economic Times reported on Aug. 27 that New York-based enterprise blockchain firm R3 chose the KBA as a general partner. According to the article’s author, the academy already designed a developer certification program on the firm’s Corda blockchain, meant for banking and technology professionals. Governmental blockchain education Per the report, KBA is the first government institution in India which offers a Corda blockchain development program. Moreover, the initiative also provides in-person training …

Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by total assets, has joined blockchain-based trade finance network, the Marco Polo Network. Standard Bank will now develop trade finance solutions alongside major global financial institutions such as French BNP Paribas and Dutch ING, according to a press release on Aug. 22. Backed by the world’s biggest bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Standard Bank is the first African bank to join the network, the press release notes. To date, the Marco Polo Network includes over 20 global financial firms such as Commerzbank, Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank, Danske Bank, NatWest, Alfa Bank, Bayern LB, …