Finextra Research: Latest fintech news, analysis, interviews, features and opinion by industry experts

Israeli stock exchange preps blockchain-based securities lending platform

The Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (Tase) is gearing up to launch a blockchain-based securities lending platform.

28 July 2020

Fasset launches OS for ethical blockchain financing

Fasset, a UK-headquartered fintech company, has launched the world’s first comprehensive operating system dedicated to the ethical financing of sustainable infrastructure on the Ethereum blockchain.

28 July 2020

News/sustainable

Coordinating ESG solution ideation for investment and asset management

In June 2020, Finextra Research welcomed industry experts to Sustainable Finance Live, the first virtual interactive workshop to discuss how financial services firms and technology companies can achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

27 July 2020

News/crypto

Eftpos Payments Australia to test stablecoin for micropayments

Eftpos Payments Australia is collaborating with distributed ledger company Hedera Hashgraph on a project to test the feasibility of a digital Australian dollar stablecoin for micropayments.

23 July 2020

Company update/crypto

SBI takes 10% stake in Nomura/NRI blockchain unit Boostry

Nomura Holdings, Inc. today announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (NRI) and SBI Holdings, Inc. (SBI) to transfer a portion of the shares it owns in BOOSTRY Co., Ltd., Nomura’s joint venture1 with NRI, to SBI. After the share transfer, Nomura will own 56%, NRI 34% and SBI 10% of BOOSTRY’s shares.

23 July 2020

News/markets

Standard Chartered invests in post-trade FX platform Cobalt

Standard Chartered has invested in foreign exchange (FX) post-trade infrastructure provider Cobalt, joining Citi as the second client-side backer of the blockchain-based network.

23 July 2020

News/retail

Ant Group creates new blockchain-based technology unit

Chinese giant Ant Group has unveiled AntChain, a new technology brand for the financial firm's blockchain platform that also aggregates other digital technologies including AI, Internet of Things (IoT) and secure computation.

23 July 2020

Company update/crypto

SETL supports IZNES in BdF CBDC experiment

London based blockchain company, SETL, is supporting the IZNES consortium in the BdF experiment with CBDC. The consortium comprises IZNES, SETL, Citi, Caceis, and DXC.

22 July 2020

News/wholesale

SMBC joins Contour and Komgo as Covid-19 propels digital trade

Sumitomo Mitsui Bank Corporation SMBC is stepping up its involvement in blockchain-based trade finance networks, joining Singapore-based Contour and Swiss platform Komgo.

21 July 2020

Research/Blockchain

Discover the Power of Enterprise Blockchain

17 July 2020 118 downloads

News/crypto

PayPal confirms crypto interest

In a letter to the European Commission, PayPal has confirmed its long-suspected interest in cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology.

16 July 2020

News/payments

Spanish banks complete tests of programmable payments for smart contracts

Banco Sabadell, Banco Santander, Bankia, BBVA and CaixaBank have successfully completed a proof-of-concept test to enable the execution of payments triggered by smart contracts in blockchain networks.

15 July 2020

Company update/wholesale

Contour and DBS support LoC transaction between Nanjing Iron & Steel and Rio Tinto on blockchain

Contour, together with member bank, DBS Bank, continue to push the digitalisation of trade finance with the completion of the network’s first fully digital end-to-end secured Letter of Credit (LC) between Nanjing Iron & Steel, Singapore Jinteng International and Hope Downs Marketing Company (an equal Joint Venture between Rio Tinto and Hancock Prospecting).

15 July 2020

Company update/crypto

VMware joins Samsung and Salesforce in Digital Asset’s Series C financing

Digital Asset, the creators of the open source DAML smart contract language, announced today that VMware has joined the company’s Series C financing round, which was announced last December.

14 July 2020

News/markets

R3 chief Rutter assembles team to build corporate bond trading platform

David Rutter, founder of LiquidityEdge and R3, is looking to tackle some of the biggest challenges in the corporate bond market with a new trading platform, LedgerEdge.

14 July 2020

News/crypto

Digital asset infrastructure firm Metaco raises $17m

Swiss digital asset infrastructure startup Metaco has raised $17 million in a series A funding round led by Giesecke+Devrient and joined by Standard Chartered Bank and Zürcher Kantonalbank.

14 July 2020

News/payments

MAS ready for live deployment of DLT-led payments

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is looking ahead to live deployment of blockchain technology for multi-currency payments after successfully completing a fifth and final phase of testing with JPMorgan and Temasek.

13 July 2020

Company update/cloud

New Singapore bank ADBC inks MoU with Tencent Cloud

Tencent Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Tencent – a leading provider of internet value added services in China, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Asia Digital Bank Corporation (ADBC) in Singapore, kicking off collaborations on cloud-based financial services and joint innovations towards a data-driven digital bank to boost local businesses in Singapore through innovative technology and hands-on digital banking operations.

09 July 2020

Company update/crypto

Radix DLT raises $4.1m for public release of DeFi protocol

Radix DLT has raised $4.1m from LocalGlobe, and TransferWise’s Taavet Hinrikus, to bring its revolutionary decentralised finance protocol to the public.

09 July 2020

Company update/crypto

ING joins Global Digital Finance

Global Digital Finance (GDF), a leading industry association advocating and accelerating the adoption of digital assets, has today announced that global banking giant and blockchain/DLT innovation leader ING has assumed a seat on the GDF Advisory Council and become Co-chair of its Custody Working Group.

09 July 2020