Bank of Ireland Conducts Blockchain Trial for Trade Reporting

One of Ireland’s “Big Four” banks has recently completed a blockchain trial centered on trade reporting.

The Bank of Ireland used a blockchain as a vehicle for creating visibility into client trading activities, working in partnership with professional services firm Deloitte. Framing the experiment through the lens of regulatory compliance, the Bank of Ireland said that the project showed the potential to cut compliance costs while increasing transparency

The bank pulled data from a number of its internal systems for the test, explaining in a press release:

“The trial combined synthesized data from multiple systems across Bank of Ireland’s Global Markets division and associated functions to form an immutable, distributed, searchable repository of information across the full trade cycle. Browser-based views were developed for clients, Relationship Managers, and Regulators, to provide enhanced views of trade position with the ability to conduct near real-time auditing.”

According to the Bank of Ireland, Deloitte was involved with the development and deployment of the test, which took place on an unnamed “fully open-source platform”.

“Bank of Ireland is constantly investigating how technology and innovation can improve the customer experience, while also ensuring that systems and procedures address changes in regulatory requirements being introduced across Europe,” the bank’s head of innovation, David Tighe, said in a statement.