Asset management giant Fidelity Investment is jumping into the crypto-asset fray with the launch of Fidelity Digital Asset Services, which will offer custody and trade execution services for crypto-currency-based instruments managed by institutional investors such as hedge funds, family offices and market intermediaries. “Fidelity believes that distributed ledger technologies [DLTs] can enable entirely new business… Read More >>
DTCC’s Test Results Show that DLT Can Scale
The DTCC has gotten an answer to a nagging question about distributed ledger technology (DLT): Can it scale? The answer after nearly five months of investigation is that DLT can support average daily trading volumes of 115 million transactions. But more work will be needed before the post-trade infrastructure and services provider knows whether DLT… Read More >>
World Bank, CBA Launch First Blockchain-Managed Bond
The World Bank recently broke ground with a bond launch that is being completely managed via blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) and represents a key step forward in the institution’s strategy to harness disruptive technologies. The blockchain operated new debt instrument, or “bond-i” is described as “the world’s first bond to be created, allocated, transferred and… Read More >>
BMO Capital Markets Explores Blockchain for Fixed Income
Pilot Involves Canadian Dollar Fixed Income Issuance Transaction BMO Capital Markets has successfully launched a pilot project for a fixed income issuance transaction that is “mirrored on a blockchain platform alongside leading pension fund investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers),” officials say in a prepared statement. “The transaction included Bank of Montreal as… Read More >>
ISITC Jolts Ops Standards, Embraces the Cutting-Edge
(FTF News got a rare chance to check in with Erica Borghi, the current chair of the International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication (ISITC), and Lisa Iagatta, current vice chair for ISITC, an industry group that advances standards, technology and best practices for financial services operations. In a wide-ranging Q&A, they provide updates on… Read More >>
Broadridge Offers More Details About Its Blockchain Plans
(Horacio Barakat, vice president of corporate strategy at Broadridge Financial Solutions, already acknowledges in a recent FTF Awards video. that the company has “accomplished a lot over the last 12 to 18 months” in its efforts to take advantage of blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT). In particular, the vendor has had breakthroughs via a DLT-based… Read More >>
39 Firms Take Part in KYC Blockchain Trial
Blockchain pioneer R3 recently announced that it conducted a four-day collaborative trial in May involving 39 financial services firms that tested more than 300 transactions via a know your customer (KYC) application that uses the R3 Corda blockchain platform. The trial was an exploration of how blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) can advance KYC processes for… Read More >>
Major Players Test Blockchain/DLT for Margining
ABN AMRO Clearing, EuroCCP, Euroclear and Nasdaq report that they have successfully tested an implementation of distributed ledger technology (DLT) for a margin call between a global capital markets firm and a central clearing counterparty, earlier this month. The test was part of a joint proof of concept (POC) effort to explore ways to “make… Read More >>
BIS Makes a Case Against Crypto Currencies
The rush to embrace crypto currencies and distributed ledger technology (DLT) is problematic and “is no substitute for tried and trusted central banks,” say key officials of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in the group’s Annual Economic Report 2018. In the abstract of the fifth chapter of the AER, Hyun Song Shin, economic adviser… Read More >>
Blockchain Budgets and Staffs Are Growing: Report
Financial services firms are bolstering their staffs and increasing their budgets to get on the blockchain bus, but the development process has been harder than expected, according to a new report from market research firm Greenwich Associates. “The financial services industry is spending about $1.7 billion per year on blockchain, as banks and other firms… Read More >>
