More than three dozen firms - including BNP Paribas, China Merchants Bank and Deutsche Bank - have carried out a global trial of a know your customer (KYC) application built on R3's Corda blockchain platform.
The four-day trial saw 39 firms deploy and run a total of 45 nodes in Microsoft Azure to carry out over 300 transactions in 19 countries across eight time zones.
Banks were able to request access to customer KYC test data, whilst customers could approve requests and revoke access. Customers were also able to update their test data which was then automatically updated for all banks with permission to access it.
The system's self-sovereign model allows corporate customers to create and manage their own identities including relevant documentation and then grant permission to multiple participants to access this data.
This, says R3, reduces duplication and costs by eliminating the need for each institution to individually attest and update KYC records. And, because only those with a need to see data have access to it, there are no data privacy and security issues.
David Rutter, CEO, R3, says: “KYC requirements present a significant challenge to financial institutions and the process is often slow and time-consuming. As our corporate membership continues to grow, there has been increasing demand for blockchain-based KYC solutions.
"Not only does this project demonstrate how blockchain can allow institutions to retain control of and manage their own identity, but it also validates the design choices we made in our approach to privacy on Corda."