According to Cointelegraph, Europe’s Banco Santander and tech behemoth IBM have announced an accord involving the IBM blockchain.
The pair signed a $700 million USD deal aiming to increase Santander’s technological developments.
The news was released yesterday via a press release.
IBM Blockchain
The deal is a five-year “global technology agreement” that will improve the bank’s services by using innovative technology such as blockchain, AI, and big data. IBM will take care of the technology behind its new services.
IBM has been leading the blockchain revolution in business across the globe. Only last week, the company successfully completed a blockchain trial aimed at improving the shipping industry. In this instance, IBM’s blockchain recorded a shipment of mandarins from China to Singapore.
The details of the trade were recorded on the blockchain. This replaced the usual bill of lading (BL) document. In normal practice, the BL is mailed to all parties involved in the shipment; this includes banks and those who provide trade financing. It can take anywhere up to a week to send the document around.
However, in using the IBM blockchain instead, the entire record is sent in 1 second.
>> Is Crypto About to Get Institutional Investment? Novogratz Thinks So
Santander
Santander is Spain’s biggest financial and credit group, and now the company is looking to “evolve towards the open, flexible and modern IT environment it requires.” The move should reduce the bank’s overall annual IT spending.
David Soto, IBM General Manager for Santander Group, was quoted in the press release as saying:
“Santander Group is leveraging IBM technologies to support their security and regulatory work, and to rapidly develop new services that meet emerging customer demand by tapping into IBM’s unique technology and industry expertise.”
The financial institution created its own blockchain research team last year. Called the Digital Investment Banking team, its purpose is to explore blockchain’s ability to enhance securities trading.
