Thai Bank Taps IBM for Contract Management Blockchain Pilot

Thailand-based Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri), in partnership with tech giant IBM, has completed a blockchain pilot aimed to streamline the contract management process.

According to the bank, the pilot, which was planned to rationalize the bank's related party transaction (RPT) capability, resulted in improved transparency and data security, as well as speeding up operations, a press release said.

According to Voranuch Dejakaisaya, Krungsri's chief information and operations officer, the trial explored the potential benefits of blockchain technology in boosting efficiencies in internal processes and improving "customer convenience."

Dejakaisaya said in the release:

"We started conducting test runs of the pilot project last year and the results have been satisfactory. The goal is to digitize the paperwork process, store document contents with authentication and approval information in the blockchain-based database, and expand this service platform across the bank and our subsidiaries."

The pilot saw Krungsri working with IBM's Cloud Garage team and used Hyperledger Composer as a framework to simplify development of the blockchain application.

The bank, Thailand's fifth largest, concluded that it could "turn the initial concepts into reality" within several months using Hyperledger Fabric and blockchain services provided on IBM Cloud.

Krungsri bank image via Shutterstock