UBS had planned to revolutionize trading finance with its first blockchain project. The platform though has now evolved into a major consortium with several banks.
A year ago, UBS and partner banks announced the start of the Batavia platform, which using blockchain technology was designed to streamline financial trading processes, as finews.com reported. This project was shelved, UBS reported Tuesday.
Three of the original banks behind the Batavia project have now joined up on the we.trade platform. Along with UBS, they comprise the Austrian Erste Group and the Spanish CaixaBank. «The two platforms pursue the same vision», Beat Bannwart, head of strategic innovation & market development for corporate clients told finews.com.
Less Paperwork
Similar to Batavia, we.trade will also enable businesses to negotiate global contracts without the usual load of paperwork. Thus a so-called «smart contract» will be possible, where for example a delivery confirmation will automatically trigger a payment.
This financial trading process is currently paper driven. The participants – buyer, seller, banks, transport companies, inspectors and regulators – have to generate tiresome documentation, available for all parties to see. This takes time, is expensive and is vulnerable to errors.
According to Bannwart the costs of such processes can be reduced to a tenth. UBS will begin offering the platform to customers in the first quarter of 2019. UBS hopes to attract more than a thousand clients through its offering.
Wider Reach
Including newly joined UBS, Erste Group and Caixa Bank, 12 banks are now using we.trade. Already on board were Deutsche Bank, HSBC, KBC, Natixis, Nordea, Robobank, Santander, Société Générale and UniCredit. Thanks to the greater combined reach of the group, the platform will now be offered to clients in 13 countries.
The project dovetails nicely given that it is based on the same blockchain system. This has been developed by IBM on the basis of the hyperledger fabric of the Linux Foundation. The U.S. tech giant will maintain and develop the platform going forward.
