Global survey figures out exactly where Blockchain stands for banks

Infosys Finacle, part of EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infosys, along with its partner Let's Talk Payments (LTP), have released a global survey* report on Blockchain 

exploring current understanding of Blockchain in the banking industry, adoption strategies and investments, as well as opportunities and challenges in the industry. 

Blockchain Technology: From Hype to Reality has found that over 80% of bankers surveyed expect to see commercial adoption of the technology by 2020, with nearly half of the financial institutions already investing or planning to invest during 2017. 

The study confirms that the Blockchain rollout will be prioritised in business areas where it can significantly improve transparency, automate processes across enterprises as well as reduce settlement and transaction time. Highlights: 

• One third (33%) of respondents expect to see commercial Blockchain adoption by 2018, while a majority (nearly 50%) see mainstream adoption by 2020 
• The average investment in Blockchain projects in 2017 is expected to be about US$1 million 
• The majority of banks, about 69%, are experimenting with permissioned Blockchains 
• About half of the banks are either working with a fintech startup or technology company to augment their Blockchain capabilities. Another 30% are opting for the consortium model 
• Slightly over half (51%) of executives driving the Blockchain initiatives are either CTOs or Chief Innovation Officers 

The study further revealed that the top five use cases that are expected to go to production are: cross border payments, digital identity management, clearing and settlement, letter of credit processing and syndication of loans. These use cases scored more than 3.2 on a scale of one to five, with a score of 1 being the least priority for commercial adoption and 5 being of the highest priority.

Infosys Finacle customers Emirates NBD, the banking group in the Middle East and ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank by consolidated assets, are already ahead of the curve. The two banks launched a pilot Blockchain network for international remittances and trade finance in October 2016. Both Emirates NBD and ICICI Bank run Finacle solutions suite and have leveraged the Blockchain framework to route business transactions between the two entities for remittances and trade finance business.

Sanat Rao, Chief Business Officer and Global Head, Finacle, said, "This research reaffirms our belief that the Blockchain technology has potential to help banks reimagine banking processes. The technology can help banks automate inter-organisation processes, significantly improve transparency and reset existing operational benchmarks. Several progressive organisations have already executed pilots to validate these propositions. We believe, in the coming quarters, the industry will experience greater momentum towards rolling out lab-pilots to real-life use cases."

Interested?

Download the report

*LTP surveyed 100 business and technology leaders from 75 institutions ranging from regional banks to multinational banks on behalf of Infosys Finacle.