BNP Paribas has confirmed its commitment to blockchain. The bank on Tuesday announced that its first Blockchain Bizhackathon on Transaction Banking activities has just concluded. The bizhackathon aimed at assessing real-world potential blockchain technology applications for use in both trade finance and cash management.
“Our first ‘bizhackathon’ helped us to highlight the opportunities of the blockchain for our flow financing activities and our financial services to corporate treasurers, as well as its potential applications to improve our practices, review and optimise our processes, and reinforce the reliability, traceability and security of our transactions”, said Marc Carlos, Head of Corporate Trade and Treasury Solutions, BNP Paribas.
Over 70 participants came together to explore the potential of the technology to improve customer experience and efficiency of the services offered in certain transaction banking areas including cash management & correspondent banking, trade finance & documentation, supply chain upstream: inventory management, supply chain downstream: payables & receivables, commodity financing and open account.
The bank said that the collaborative effort produced some "promising" ideas which will now be further analysed over the course of the year, in order to assess their true potential and actual feasibility in a reasonable timeframe.
BNP Paribas has also joined the R3 blockchain consortium and European (CDC) initiative, and has recently announced its acquisition of a stake in blockchain startup Digital Asset Holdings.
