National Bank of Canada to Deploy Blockchain Technology for Issuing Transactions

Blockchain technology seems to be making its way into nearly every country in the world, even if cryptocurrency is lagging behind. One of the latest involvements is with the National Bank of Canada (NBC), opting to employ the help of blockchain technology in their process for validating transactions. They also intend to use smart contracts, rather than the current procedures that involve a network of emails.

The efforts of the commercial bank are combined into a partnership with CGI, an IT and business consulting services firm, and Skuchain, a blockchain startup. The goal is to use the Trade360 trade finance platform from CGI and the smart contract creation software that Skuchain provides.

Everything will be based on the Brackets blockchain platform, which is from Skuchain. The goal of this collaboration is to:

“improve processing times, reduce risks and help strengthen the bank's customer relationships.”

The vice president of payments, cash management and international solutions at National Bank of Canada, Patrice Roy, discussed the project, saying,

“This pilot project is a great opportunity to leverage blockchain technology to simplify the process for negotiating standby letters of credit and guarantees while making it more transparent and secure.” She added, “This will enable us to offer a simple, fast and efficient experience to our commercial clients which facilitates managing their business.”

NBC has been involved in more than one blockchain project this year, showing the bank’s interest in evolving their own electronic ledger and protocols. In April, NBC got to be one of the first testers of the Quorum blockchain platform by JPMorgan, which focuses on the implementation of financial instruments.

At the time of the involvement, a spokesman said that this technology had “the potential to bring about major change in the financial services industry.”