JPMorgan Seeks Faster Settlement Times in Blockchain Trials

In spite of massive investment in financial technology, JPMorgan Chase still has a long way to go to meet its blockchain objectives.

Abhijit Gupta, multinational bank’s head of science and technology in the Asia Pacific, told Chinese news service Sina that he was concerned about the improvements in the technology, “especially speed,” according to a translation of the article.

Gupta added:

"Over the past year and a half, the processing time of our system [improved by] 10 times, but in fact we need to achieve is 1,000 times. "

The details come months after the bank first began disclosing its blockchain work. In February, JPMorgan conducted an internal test moving money between London and Tokyo as part of a trial involving 2,200 of its clients, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

A month later JPMorgan unveiled its work on Juno, a distributed ledger project published as part of its involvement with the Linux Foundation-led Hyperledger initiative.

Blockchain and jobs

If JPMorgan still has a ways to go before meeting its blockchain objectives, reports show the bank is financially committed to the course, along with another area of technology.

In December of last year, Business Insider reported on an internal memo from JP Morgan that revealed the bank would invest $9b in blockchain and robotics technology through the end of this year.

Speaking to Sina, Gupta provided insight into how the company views the two areas of investment, specifically as relates to concerns over their impact on employment.

"We do not believe financial technology makes a lot of people unemployed. As more money [moves] into this area, more job opportunities will come up," he said.

Gupta concluded:

"For example, in the application of robotics banking operations by reducing human error and improve efficiency, will improve the customer experience. We therefore can re-deploy staff to the department that they can continue to generate value."

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