IT outfit Nomura Research Institute (NRI) is working with Japan Exchange Group and several major financial institutions to test the use of blockchain technology in the securities industry.
NRI has been aggressively investigating the use of distributed ledger technology in financial services, first teaming up with Nomura Securities for a proof-of-concept last October to investigate the use of blockchains to decentralise information and resist data tampering when managing stockholders’ accounts.
The firm says that study has proven that blockchain technology allows anti-tampering stock information management and gets rid of the need for reconciliation between stockholders.
Now NRI is moving onto the second phase of its PoC, working with the Japan Exchange, Nomura and others, including SBI Securities and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and blockchain specialist Currency Port.
Until the end of June, the partners will examine business scenarios and validation items involving distributed ledger technology and prepare prototype systems based on those scenarios.
For JPX this is the second blockchain PoC it has instigated in the last few months, coming after a similar agreement with IBM Japan. In both cases, the exchange operator says that it wants to "evaluate the limits and possibilities of the technology in markets that have low transaction data volume".
Minoru Yokote, senior MD, NRI, says: "As the industry increasingly looks towards what blockchain can provide to enhance operations and technology, we are focused on determining all the challenges and potential benefits of blockchain for future applications across the securities industry."