Nine financial institutions are involved in a trial project dedicated to Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-powered programs.
A project based on DLT protocol brought together nine banking giants whose targets resemble. As reported by Financial News, the LedgerConnect project developed by processing company CLS in collaboration with tech giant IBM, began the trial period.
LedgerConnect is a project dedicated to blockchain technology promotion among financial institutions. It aims to create a platform through which banks will have access to blockchain-powered services. The process is conducted in accordance with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards. LedgerConnect was created on the IBM Blockchain Platform by using Hyperledger Fabric technology.
Keith Bear, VP of financial markets for IBM, claimed:
“The challenge is being able to work together across organizations of different speeds. […] On one side we have a large, highly regulated industry. On the other side we have much more agile and fast footed fintechs with limited resources. Our role is in some respects of mediating those differences in speed and resources.”
It needs to be approved!
A bizarre aspect is that the project is facing regulatory barriers, given the fact that LedgerConnect itself aims to remove or diminish them. This is because the project still needs to be approved by the Surveillance Committee, made up of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and several other central financial institutions.
Keith Bear hopes the project to be launched by the beginning of 2019, but until it does not own the approval it is complicated to move further and announce the official date of release.
According to Fortune, nine banks, including Citigroup and Barclays, are participating in the trial blockchain platform. Unfortunately, the names of the other seven companies have not been disclosed.
London-based bank Barclays has previously interacted with the crypto sector. Back in April, the financial institution began to assess the interest of its clients on cryptos, probably with the aim to launch its own crypto exchange.
