B3i was developed to explore and promote blockchain innovation in the insurance and reinsurance market; the consortium began in October 2016 and has now added three new members bringing its total membership to 15; the consortium's newest members include Hannover, Generali Group and SCOR; B3i is currently developing a shared platform for exchanging contracts which could likely develop into a commercial insurance services company by 2018. Source
Former Goldman Sachs banker Mona El Isa has founded an asset management services company that will provide blockchain solutions for hedge funds; El Isa launched Melonport in February 2016 with co-founder Reto Trinkler and has now hired George Hallam, former head of external communications at the Ethereum Foundation; El Isa's hedge fund services will use smart contracts to automate various aspects of portfolio management for hedge fund managers which will lower the costs of building a hedge fund. Source
A new consortium has been developed for internet of things (IoT) blockchain technology; the consortium includes established companies and blockchain startups targeting various industries; overall the consortium will focus on setting blockchain industry standards and developing new solutions for IoT technology. Source
IBM has hired Jesse Lund from Wells Fargo to lead its blockchain market development and global financial services departments; Lund will join IBM at the onset of its global blockchain implementation launch; IBM is investing in global blockchain and according to recent comments from Jerry Cuomo, IBM vice president of blockchain technologies, the blockchain that IBM will offer will have special things like regulatory compliance and it will be interoperable with interoperability standards; a large part of IBM's blockchain development will take place through the Hyperledger Project which both Cuomo and Lund will be actively involved in. Source
Juzhen is developing new blockchain technology for banks that will focus on privacy, biometrics and access control; the firm is the largest China-based blockchain startup; it is working with the ChinaLedger blockchain consortium and has a thorough understanding of the Chinese market's infrastructure and banking culture. Source
A new global survey report titled, "Blockchain Technology: From Hype to Reality," shows 80% of banks surveyed expect to utilize some type of blockchain technology by 2020; 50% of banks say they have already invested or are planning to invest in blockchain technology in 2017; these financial institutions are reporting an average blockchain investment of $1 million in 2017; according to the report, the top five use cases for blockchain are cross border payments, digital identity management, clearing and settlement, letter of credit processing and syndication of loans. Source
Token-as-a-Service (TaaS), co-founded by Konstantin Pysarenko, Ruslan Gavrilyuk, Dmytro Chupryna and Maksym Muratov, will offer a blockchain fund through an initial coin offering (ICO); the fund will issue tokens which represent a proof-of-membership; the fund will perform a cryptographic audit to track trading activity; TaaS is also developing a new blockchain analytic platform called Kepler that will provide data similar to Bloomberg; according to founder Konstantin Pysarenko: "The overall aim of TaaS is to deliver long-lasting innovations in the blockchain industry. And, we believe that TaaS and Kepler are on track to revolutionize the journey of investing in cryptocurrencies and tokens forever and we are excited to watch it all unfold." Source
Caitlin Long, chairman and president of Symbiont, talks about why blockchain technology is ideal for syndicated loans; syndicated loans are some of the most complexly structured loans in the credit market; they involve multiple originators for a single loan and add significant balance sheet capital for corporations; blockchain could help reduce the syndicated loan deal funding process currently averaging over 20 days; it could also streamline documentation and loan processing providing significantly improved transparency and also supporting better loan market trading activities; Caitlin will be speaking about blockchain and its integration with loans at LendIt USA 2017. Source
Blockchain has been becoming increasingly utilized across a range of industries; speculators believe 2017 could be blockchain's biggest year ever with a number of factors supporting the technology; bitcoin's price has been increasing, reaching a three-year high in January; market participants have been strengthening led by the Hyperledger Project; investment has also been increasing, specifically investment in patented blockchain technology. Source
According to a new report by Accenture and McLagan, which is part of Aon Hewitt a business unit of Aon plc, blockchain technology could reduce infrastructure costs for eight of the world's 10 largest investment banks by an average of 30%, translating to $8 billion to $12 billion in annual cost savings for those banks; key figures include a 70% cut on central finance reporting, a 50% cut on business and central operations, and a 50% cut on compliance. Source