22 Banks Join Swift's Cross-Border Blockchain Trial

Swift's months-long cross border blockchain trial is expanding with the entrance of more than twenty additional financial firms.

The global financial messaging provider said in a press release today it has increased the number of companies that can act as validators for the proof-of-concept.

The list of banks includes a variety of institutions that have previously pursued blockchain initiatives, either on a collective basis or within individual projects. These include ABN Amro, Absa Bank, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered and Westpac, to name a few.

The project, as previously reported by CoinDesk, aims to evaluate how the technology can improve the reconciliation process for international nostro costs. Nostro accounts are typically used by banks to store money internationally for the purpose of settling cross-border transactions.

"This new group of banks allows us to greatly extend the scope of multi-lateral testing of the blockchain application and thus add considerable weight to the findings. We warmly welcome the new banks and look forward to their insights," Wim Raymaekers, Swift's head of banking markets, said in a statement.

As reported in April, Swift is using the Fabric blockchain implementation, developed by the Linux Foundation-backed Hyperledger project, as the technology basis for the proof-of-concept.

Compass and money image via Shutterstock