Santander trialling blockchain
(27 May 2016 – United Kingdom) Santander is the first bank in Britain to use blockchain technology to record international payments, and may start rolling out the service to customers next year, the head of innovation at its UK arm said.
The bank said approximately 6,000 staff in the UK would be eligible to begin using the new technology internally in a pilot program, with the aims to make the transfer of money faster, more accurate and more transparent.
According to reports, the implantation of distributed ledgers may eventually allow banks and financial institutions to settle the estimated annual US$26 trillion (A$36 trillion) of international transactions almost instantaneously, in stark contrast to current settlement times of days under the today’s legacy systems.
"The main customer benefits are certainty of timing, so you know when the payment is going to arrive and certainty of value," said Ed Metzger, head of innovation, technology and operations at Santander UK.
Metzger said at the moment when customers transfer money overseas the charges between banks and delivery times are estimates, whereas with this technology when a customer hits send that will be the amount that reaches the recipient account.
He added that unless all banks are using the same technology then the "last mile" of its pilot using blockchain will use slower, existing payments links.
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