Biggest Banks in the World Working on Security Tokens & Blockchain
The top 100 banks in the world by assets under management are learning how to re-invent themselves with blockchain technology. Check out our list below to see who’s working on what.
The largest private banks in the world have been exploring new fintech solutions like security tokens and blockchain for the past few years. Startups often provide the source of innovation for big corporations, but that hasn’t stopped the 39 below members of the top 100 largest banks in the world from pioneering themselves. Most notably, 7 of the 10 largest banks have publicly announced initiatives. Check out the list below to see which of the world’s largest banks are working on security tokens and blockchain!
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are also being tested and implemented by central banks around the world — check out the full list here.
The following list of top 100 banks (according to Wikipedia) are working on security tokens and blockchain. This list was last updated on December 2nd, 2020.
#2. 🇨🇳 China Construction Bank ($3.6 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: Although the Chinese government has been critical of digital currency, once blanket banning cryptocurrencies in 2017, the recent DCEP initiative from China's national government demonstrates a move towards the acceptance of new financial technology such as digital securities. This has led major banks across China to explore security tokens and blockchain applications, including the second-largest bank in the world, China Construction Bank.
Applications: Most recently, in November 2020, China Construction Bank had announced a partnership with Fusang to tokenize $3 Billion worth of tokenized bonds, but canceled the sale shortly before going live.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: The Chinese government is consistently wavering in its position on digital currencies since its initial banning of Bitcoin. The Chinese Construction Bank announced a halt of its digital bond sale due to heightened scrutiny.
#4. 🇨🇳 Bank of China ($3.2 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: The Bank of China must have been even more closely prepared than the CCB because they launched its own $2.8 Billion dollar tokenized bond at the beginning of 2020.
Applications: The Bank of China is using a blockchain-based solution to issue loans to small and micro-sized businesses to support their continued growth in the economy.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: No public comments from the bank about blockchain were found, but in an article about the Bank of China’s related projects, a reporter wrote: “According to statistics, as of the end of September 2019, China Banking and Insurance Trust has cooperated with a number of insurance companies in electronic insurance policy custody, accumulating more than 4 million electronic insurance policies in custody, and has added more than 300,000 new custody per month since the beginning of this year”.
#5. 🇯🇵 MUFG ($2.9 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: On November 7th, 2019, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) announced the establishment of its “ST Research Consortium” and its aim to develop next-generation financial transaction services using blockchain technology. Before that, the bank invested in Securitize, a leading tokenization and issuance platform.
Applications: The hope is to offer infrastructure that enables the seamless and automatic settlement of securities and funds. The consortium set out to protect investors’ rights throughout the process. Most notably, MUFG recently announced a move to create a digital token to be used as a stablecoin.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Japan has announced various initiatives involving blockchain and digital currency over the past few months alone. So far, regulators have taken the approach to support the commercial industry as it self regulates.
#6. 🇬🇧 HSBC ($2.7 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: In November of 2019, HSBC announced that it would move to settle $20B worth of assets to a new blockchain-based custody platform by March 2020.
Applications: HSBC’s platform, known as Digital Vault, is set to allow investors to access real-time records of securities purchased on private markets. Although no clear updates on this development have been released, it is clear that the bank has been preparing for a move to digital securities and has expected an increase in the demand for related services for over a year now.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: The bank is actively exploring blockchain and security token applications for payment versus delivery, clearing and settlement, and digitization.
#7. 🇺🇸 JP Morgan Chase ($2.7 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: JP Morgan Chase, one of the largest banks in the United States, announced the creation of a Digital Coin to enable the instantaneous transfer of payments between institutional clients.
Applications: The multinational investment bank further discloses that the Coins are sent over a blockchain network for money movement and for payment in securities transactions. Though the announcement describes the Digital Coin as a prototype, the bank also itself as the first U.S. bank to successfully test a digital coin of its nature. Most recently, J.P. Morgan made a deal with blockchain firm ConsenSys to sell off its Quorum blockchain platform.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: On its official website, J.P. Morgan writes, “We have always believed in the potential of blockchain technology and we are supportive of cryptocurrencies as long as they are properly controlled and regulated. As a globally regulated bank, we believe we have a unique opportunity to develop the capability in a responsible way with the oversight of our regulators. Ultimately, we believe that JPM Coin can yield significant benefits for blockchain applications by reducing clients’ counterparty and settlement risk, decreasing capital requirements and enabling instant value transfer”.
#9. 🇫🇷 BNP Paribas ($2.7 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: On September 15th, 2020 BNP Paribas Securities announced a partnership with financial technology company Digital Asset to create blockchain/DLT applications.
Applications: The applications or dApps will be used for real-time trade and settlement. The bank claims that even clients that have not integrated with their DLT platforms to make use of real-time workflows.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In its report on the partnership, Luc Renard, BNP Paribas Securities stated: “We believe that DAML has the potential to emerge as a new standard for international capital markets”. Recently, the bank partnered with leading tokenization and issuance platform, Tokeny, and chose the Ethereum and Tezos blockchains for use.
#10. 🇫🇷 Crédit Agricole ($2.2 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: In 2017, Crédit Agricole announced its investment in a financial blockchain specialized fintech, SETL, and its experimentation with blockchain to further its efforts in digital innovation.
Applications: The bank disclosed that it is working to speed up the digitalization of its processes and exchanges with clients. The bank also raised awareness on innovation through presentations, workshops, and an innovation fair on topics such as blockchain, open banking, and smart data.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Although public mentions of Crédit Agricole’s views on security tokens/blockchain are hard to find, the bank's investment in a blockchain-native fintech indicated a move towards adoption using vertical integration.
#13. 🇺🇸 Citi Group ($1.9 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: On March 10th 2020, ConsenSys announced a collaboration with Citi to modernize commodity trading using blockchain technology.
Applications: The Ethereum-based Komgo platform helps to simplify, secure, and standardize operations across the international trade finance industry with new solutions like digitized letters of credit. Komgo has been working with Consensys to address challenges such as paper-based processing, delayed transaction settlement, and fragmented record keeping and much more since the beginning of their partnership.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: As one of the largest global trade finance banks in the world, Citi has publicly declared blockchain technology as a way to potentially influence human behavior and that its relationship with Komgo and ConsenSys has helped to solidify this viewpoint within the company.
#15. 🇯🇵 Mizuho Financial Group ($1.9 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: Japanese banking group Mizuho announced experimentation with blockchain for use in trade finance as early as July 7th, 2017. On September 25th, 2017, the firm also a partnership with conglomerate Hitachi to develop a blockchain platform for supply chain management.
Applications: Mizuho claimed to be examining the utility of blockchain for currency settlement and distributed record-keeping to offer faster delivery times and increased transparency. The ultimate goal is to develop a record of every transaction that can be accessible by anyone in the company, thereby streamlining the process needed to order an item. Recently in November 2020, Mizuho joined MUFG on its Digital Yen stablecoin project.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Mizuho Financial Group has been experimenting with blockchain since 2017 and has continued to show progress in its developments in the industry. In a statement, the bank claims that “Mizuho aims to further explore the practical business application of blockchain / DLT and to offer technologically sophisticated, client-focused services going forward”.
#16. 🇪🇸 Banco Santander ($1.8 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: On September 13th, 2019, Spanish multinational financial company Banco Santander announced its issuance of a $20M dollar end-to-end blockchain bond.
Applications: Santander revealed that it issued the $20M bond directly on the public Ethereum blockchain where it will remain until the end of its one-year maturity. Both the money used to complete the transfer and the quarterly tokens were tokenized. John Whelan, head of digital investment banking at Santander, explained that the (tokenized) cash was held “in escrow in a smart contract on the public Ethereum blockchain until the issuer had underwritten the transaction and instructed the blockchain to perform the delivery versus payment”. The bank also invested in Securitize in 2019.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Santander is claiming to be the first to complete a digitized, automated, and on-chain process for the issuance of a bond. Banco Santander revealed that in the bond issuance to itself, the transaction was faster, more efficient, and simpler than legacy systems.
#17. 🇫🇷 Société Générale ($1.5 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: On April 23rd, 2019, French multinational investment bank and financial services company Société Générale announced its issuance of the first covered bond as a security token on a public blockchain.
Applications: The bank has been actively working with several banks and the Central Bank of France (Banque de France) on its tokenized bond projects and is considered one of the most active security token using banks in Europe.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Société Générale reports that the company has been involved with several initiatives involving blockchain and Distributed Ledger technologies for many years including platforms like we.trade and Komgo and is considered a fierce advocate of the technology, including selecting Ethereum and ConsenSys as partners.
#18. 🇬🇧 Barclays ($1.5 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: On July 19th, 2019, Barclays released a report on how the British multinational investment bank is exploring blockchain technology. In the report, Barclays reveals that it started exploring how to leverage the technology over four years prior to its release.
Applications: Although Barclays does not reveal any details about future products and services using blockchain technology, the bank is exploring methods of simplifying processes and removing inefficiencies across the industry.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Barclays does reveal that it sees the real value of blockchain in its ability to make substantial improvements to data processing through automated coordination, which Barclays believes may lead to billions in industry savings. Nicole Sandler, Head of Innovation Policy at Barclays stated, “We see our role within the blockchain ecosystem as not only an innovator pushing the technology forward, but as an incumbent using our experience to ensure that every use case is fit for purpose and safe for clients, customers and wider society”.
#21. 🇩🇪 Deutsche Bank ($1.4 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: On October 11, 2019, Deutsche Bank announced the successful tokenization of a bond on the EOS blockchain.
Applications: The tokenized bond, dbond, is a high-quality USD nominated bond of Deutsche Bank AG and is locked within custody until the maturity time. The bond uses a stablecoin developed by Depos Technologies to maintain its peg to the dollar. Deutsche Bank
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Although Deutsche Bank does not regularly mention its use of blockchain for the tokenization of securities or other applications, the public announcement of the digital bond in 2019 may signal that the bank is privately working on solutions that involve the nascent technology.
#23. 🇨🇦 Royal Bank of Canada ($1.1 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: On September 27th, 2017, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) announced its experimentation with blockchain to help move payments between its U.S. and Canadian banks.
Applications: The bank developed a system at an RBC blockchain technology center in Toronto using IBM’s Hyperledger. The technology was integrated into RBC’s existing systems to enable a “shadow ledger” that tracks payments going to and from Canada and the U.S. The system was developed to prove RBC’s leadership in the space and to reveal the potential efficiencies of utilizing blockchain technology in cross-border payment flows.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Martin Wildberger, RBC’s executive vice president of innovation and technology, said that the use of distributed ledger technology, or DLT, would improve the speed of payments, reduce complexity and lower costs. Acknowledging the previously mentioned blockchain technology center in Toronto, it is likely that the bank will continue to consider blockchain in many of its efforts for innovation.
#24. 🇬🇧 Lloyds Banking Group ($1.1 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: On June 3rd 2019, Loyds Banking Group was announced to be a partner in a UBS-led group to create a “utility settlement coin” using blockchain technology.
Applications: The group of banks will use a permissioned blockchain system that will allegedly make cross-border transactions much faster and less risky. The token in the system will work as both a payment device and as a messenger that carries the information needed to execute a trade.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Since Lloyd’s Banking Group has only openly disclosed its involvement with the collective of banks for the UBS-led project, the company’s views on the blockchain are difficult to find. Hesitancy to announce its experimentation with the technology may suggest that the company is evaluating blockchain and security tokens with prudence.
#29. 🇳🇱 ING Group ($1 Trillion in AUM)
Research Began: On June 21st 2019, ING, a Dutch multinational bank and financial services company, released a report about asset tokenization and the future of capital markets. In the report, the bank discusses the opportunities and challenges that come with the adoption of blockchain technology.
Applications: ING has not revealed any specific details about their use of blockchain technology, but the bank’s strong interest and understanding of the potential for security tokens may indicate that the bank will release more information as regulatory clarity becomes a global standard.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In the report, Carlos Cocuzzo, Economist, Digital Finance at ING stated, “Finance is the business of trust. Without trust, an investor is unlikely to engage in a transaction”. Ultimately, ING sees blockchain technology as a potential way to improve transparency and therefore trust in financial and capital markets.
#30. 🇺🇸 Goldman Sachs ($990 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: In October 2018, SeedInvest was acquired by Circle, founded in 2013 by investment banking and management giant Goldman Sachs. It is rumored that Circle acquired the FINRA fundraising platform to later issue security tokens.
Applications: Although no details about the acquisition have been released, Circle’s acquisition of SeedInvest may suggest that the fundraising platform will eventually make use of security tokens and blockchain technology.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Goldman Sachs was most recently noted for releasing 5 reasons why cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin are not an asset class in the spring. This was shortly followed by Goldman Sachs’s announcement of a new head of digital assets in August which suggests that the multinational investment bank is moving to further explore security tokens and blockchain technology, as well as cryptocurrencies.
#33. 🇨🇭UBS ($970 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On June 3rd, 2019, Paul Vigna from the Wall Street Journal announced that the UBS-led consortia were set to launch a blockchain-based trade-settlement platform. On October 9th, 2019, UBS announced its commencement of full-fledged transactions on we.trade, a blockchain-based trade finance platform.
Applications: UBS utilizing we.trade for trade settlement may suggest the firm is looking to use the blockchain-based platform to settle international transactions with other we.trade users including Société Générale, HSBC, Santander, UniCredit, Nordea, KBC, Rabobank, and Deutsche Bank.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: The chief executive officer of the Swiss banking and financial services giant UBS Group AG (UBS), Sergio Ermotti, believes that the blockchain technology underlying the cryptocurrencies is “definitely an opportunity” in the long term, according to CNBC. Acknowledging UBS’s active efforts to collaborate with multiple of the other multinational banks on this list, it is no secret that UBS sees a bright future for the industry.
#36. 🇬🇧 NatWest Group ($950 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On March 26th, 2019, NatWest Group, a majority state-owned British multinational banking and insurance holding company, announced its collaboration with CurveBlock to hold a security token offering after NatWest accepted the company into its commercial bank accelerator program.
Applications: NatWest Group is accelerating CurveBlock to create their own STO offering as the company goes on to provide ecologically and sociologically responsible support to low-income housing needs.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: NatWest Group publically announced its collaboration with CurveBlock to indicate that the company is paying close attention to what is happening in the space. Although comments about this partnership and other blockchain experiments are difficult to come across, Gary Woodhead, CEO of CurveBlock stated, “Banks have always been the stumbling block at the early stages in real estate development. CurveBlock is removing banks from this chokepoint by being a fully liquid company that can take advantage of all opportunities, regardless of whether banks are loaning money or not. We are happy to partner with NatWest bank for the sales side of development”.
#39. 🇺🇸 Morgan Stanley ($890 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On June 15th, 2017, Morgan Stanley stated “governmental acceptance would be required for this to further accelerate, the price of which is regulation,” indicating that the American multinational investment bank has been researching blockchain and cryptocurrencies as early as 3 years ago.
Applications: In 2018 Morgan Stanley was reported to be among the first to use the freshly launched CLSNet alongside banking giant Goldman Sachs. CLSNet is used to help international organizations solve the problem of payment vs. delivery in international trade.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Most recently, Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s chief strategist and head of emerging markets recommended Bitcoin as an alternative investment to stocks amid loose central banking monetary policy but has not alluded to using security tokens within the bank itself.
#40. 🇨🇦 Scotiabank ($870 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On March 2nd, 2017, AlphaPoint, a fintech company focused on blockchain technology announced its completion of a successful proof of technology with one of Canada’s Big Five banks, Scotiabank.
Applications: No details about the success of the trial were released to the public, but fintech AlphaPoint enables firms to digitize financial instruments on its platform where Scotiabank may execute and manage trades using blockchain technology.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In 2018, Henry Kesisyan, Scotiabank’s head of blockchain, claimed that “the financial services sector is set to ramp up implementation of blockchain applications in 2019,” indicating the bank’s views on the future of the nascent technology. He also added, “We’re a very large bank in the gold space, so everything from the gold being mined right through getting into the vault and the settlement, being able to track that across a blockchain, that’s something we’re looking at”.
#41. 🇨🇭 Credit Suisse ($810 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On September 19th, 2019, Credit Suisse published an article about blockchain with Professor Fabian Schär, Managing director and professor at the Center for Innovative Finance (CIF), University of Basel. On February 20th, 2020, Credit Suisse claimed bragging rights for the first live blockchain-based settlement of U.S. equities in collaboration with NYDFS regulated fintech Paxos.
Applications: The Paxos Settlement Service allows the simultaneous exchange of cash and a select number of U.S.-listed securities on the firm’s private version of Ethereum.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Head of digital asset markets at Credit Suisse, Emmanuel Aidoo, said in a statement: “Paxos Settlement Service introduces blockchain technology that’s compliant with regulations and allows us to take important strides towards evolving market structure and unlocking capital that is tied up in legacy settlement processes”.
#44. 🇬🇧 Standard Chartered ($720 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: According to a report on Newage released on August 16th, 2020, British multinational bank, Standard Chartered conducted its first blockchain trade in Bangladesh.
Applications: Standard Chartered issued a Letter of Credit (LC) for the trade between two garment exporters on the Contour blockchain network. The entire transaction was reported to be completely digitally on the R3-baed Countour network.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In the Newage report, Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh CEO Naser Ezaz Bijoy stated: “We are extremely proud to introduce blockchain technology in Bangladesh for trade transactions. It has been a privilege to partner with Viyellatex Group to initiate the first Blockchain enabled Letter of Credit in the country. We are very excited to offer our clients improved speed and reduced risks of settlement offered by platforms such as Contours”.
#45. 🇦🇺 Commonwealth Bank ($680 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On July 4th, 2019, Australian multinational bank, Commonwealth Bank announced its launch of a pilot with ANZ, IBM, Scentre Group, and Westpac using a new blockchain-based system, Lygon, to manage bank guarantees.
Applications: The Lygon platform is operated by Lygon 1B Pty Ltd and is used to digitally issue bank guarantees, reducing the typical timeline for this process from up to a month to around the same day.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Michael Thorpe, Managing Director, Future Cities, Institutional Banking and Markets, Commonwealth Bank stated: “Commonwealth Bank has a strong track record of collaborative innovation using blockchain technology. This pilot is a co-operative industry approach to explore the use of blockchain technology to revolutionise bank guarantees, making the process simpler, easier and more transparent for our business customers — we are simplifying document exchange, using real time monitoring and speeding up the issuing process. While the pilot is focussed on retail property leasing, the digitisation of bank guarantees can benefit many other industries and geographies where bank guarantees, or standard letters of credit, are used”
#47. 🇨🇦 Bank of Montreal ($660 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On August 15th, 2018, BMO Capital Markets announced a first-of-its-kind blockchain pilot to issue a fixed income transaction with investment banking company Bank of Montreal.
Applications: The pilot transaction was booked as a traditional Canadian Depository for Securities (CDS) issuance and successfully paralleled through the blockchain. It was conducted to demonstrate how smart contracts and blockchain could be used for fixed income markets.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Although no public comment from Bank of Montreal can be found, Audrey Gaspar, Ontario Teachers’ Managing Director, Treasury and Integration stated: “Ontario Teachers’ is committed to exploring technology and innovations that might improve our ability to serve our members”. “We are pleased to partner with Bank of Montreal in this pilot blockchain initiative”.
#48. 🇳🇱 Rabobank ($660 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On April 14th, 2020, Rabobank announced the completion of a cross-continent commodity trade transaction from North America to Southeast Asia using a blockchain platform alongside Agrocorp and privately held global food corporation Cargill.
Applications: Rabobank disclosed that the use of consensus-driven smart contracts for the transaction and helped reduce the time spent on processing documents by more than half.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: After the transaction, Rabobank’s key facilitators, Mario Cortinhal in North America and Olivier De Jong in Singapore revealed that they were able to minimize the time spent on processing documents due to the effectiveness of consensus-driven smart contracts.
#49. 🇦🇺 Australia & New Zealand Banking Group ($660 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On December 12th, 2015, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) announced its collaboration with tech giants and financial institutions to explore how blockchain technology may potentially replace today’s international financial infrastructure using IBM’s Hyperledger.
Applications: It is reported that in the project each firm will offer each other intellectual property and resources to create its own blockchain with Hyperledger. The group claimed that the aim of Hyperledger was to develop a framework whereby entities can transfer assets of any kind between themselves.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In 2017 Nigel Dobson, GM of Wholesale Digital at ANZ stated: “We have been keen to avoid the hype surrounding blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, and instead focused on practical and deliverable use cases,” after the announcement of a successful blockchain-based trial with IBM.
#51. 🇫🇮 Nordea ($620 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On May 9th, 2019, European financial services group Nordea announced a successful launch with we.trade.
Applications: Nordea is using the blockchain-based we.trade platform to simplify the order process through a controlled set of rules that enhances security throughout the process. we.trade is constructed on the IBM blockchain platform and was jointly developed by many of the previously mentioned banks.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In a press release about Nordea’s involvement with we.trade, head of Business Banking, Magnus Montan stated: “We see more and more small and medium sized companies getting involved in cross border trading. There are some common challenges that they face. The biggest one is related to trust in their overseas trading partners. we.trade is not only about providing trade finance, it is something much bigger than that. It is about enabling trade and with we.trade we are creating an ecosystem for the global trade, where trust is an integral part”.
#57. 🇯🇵 Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings ($500 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On December 12th, 2018, Japanese financial holding company Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings released a notice regarding the commencement of Proof of Concept utilizing blockchain technology in Real Estate with one of its subsidiaries.
Applications: The bank disclosed that it aims to maintain and ensure the transparency of information on real estate transactions and to expand business opportunities for real estate owners and investors. Nordea claimed to
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In the report, Nordea stated: “Blockchain is a new technology expected to be effective for preventing tampering with information and improving transparency. SuMi TRUST Bank [Nordea’s subsidiary] will examine to develop a fair and highly transparent information management method, which will contribute to attract potential participants and create more business opportunities in real estate transactions”.
#62. 🇩🇪 Commerzbank ($470 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On August 8th 2019, German bank Commerzbank announced its development of a blockchain-based solution for machine-to-machine payments.
Applications: Commerzbank has partnered with companies like Daimler Trucks to successfully settle machine-to-machine payments on a blockchain.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Stephan Müller, Head of Transaction Banking, Commerzbank AG stated: “After we have completely digitized securities transactions in particular in previous pilot projects and processed them using blockchain technology, we are now focusing on DLT-based payment structures. Because, as a bank, we naturally also see our mission in creating new digital payment architectures for our customers”.
#67. 🇯🇵 Nomura Group ($420 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On May 15th, 2018, Nomura Group announced its establishment of Komainu alongside partners to overcome barriers to institutional investment in digital assets.
Applications: On November 5th, 2020, Nomura published research findings on its use of blockchain technology in financial markets. In the report, Nomura Group highlights the use of security tokens as a funding tool. The bank also invested in Securitize in 2019.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In 2018, Jez Mohideen, Global Chief Digital Officer Wholesale at Nomura stated: “Global investment managers have long been held back from full participation in digital asset markets, limited by operational and regulatory risk. Our new partnership will set the required standards that will bring peace of mind to digital asset investors, and provide tools and products to enable better integration with more traditional investment vehicles such as mutual funds”.
#71. 🇧🇷 Itaú Unibanco ($407 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On December 3rd, 2018, Reuters released a report about Itaú Unibanco’s collaboration with Standard Chartered to launch a blockchain platform for loans.
Applications: The syndicated loan took place on the R3-developed Corda, a permissionned blockchain platform for digital identity and transaction settlement.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In a joint statement about the collaboration, the banks stated: “The use of blockchain in the banking industry is expected to reduce the risk of fraud in financial transactions, as well as cut down complexity and costs”.
#73. 🇺🇸 Bank of New York Mellon ($381 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: In February 2020, Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) released a report on the benefits of digitizing assets using blockchain where it lists 5 reasons to tokenize assets.
Applications: Although few details about BNY Mellon’s blockchain projects are publicly available, in its report the bank stated: “As one of the world’s largest custodian overseeing $37.1 trillion as of Dec. 31, 2019, the bank has a series of tokenization development projects under way to learn about different use cases, any risks to its adoption and what marketplace frictions it can remove for clients. For example, the bank is working to issue bonds and syndicated loans on a digital ledger”.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Head of digital partnerships at BNY Mellon, Lucien Foster stated: “This is the evolution of money. We’re going from the old days of stock certificates being run across Wall Street to digital tokens that can be moved and settled with a keystroke”.
#75. 🇰🇷 Nonghyup Bank ($370 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On September 29th, 2020, South Korean Nonghyup Bank announced its launch of a blockchain-powered document wallet for authentication.
Applications: Nonghyup Group announced that its blockchain platform would be used to issue digital certificates for more than 300 types of documentation. The bank also revealed that its blockchain-powered system will allow customers to do away with paper-based document submission processes to prove identity online.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Nonghyup Bank states that it planned to expand its blockchain-powered e-wallet’s infrastructure “within 2020” and claimed that “public institutions and other financial institutions” would also be able to accept the digital certificates as valid forms of authentication.
#76. 🇸🇬 OCBC Bank ($365 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On July 23rd, 2019, UionBank announced its use of a blockchain-based version of tokenized fiat for an account-to-account cross-border transaction in collaboration with OCBC Bank.
Applications: The project uses the Adhara blockchain platform which allows for real-time international payment and liquidity management and is a permissioned Ethereum platform that uses tokenized fiat and smart contracts.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: No public comments from OCBC bank were found, but, Julio Faura, CEO Adhara stated: “We are very excited to work with UnionBank and OCBC on this pilot, which demonstrates how tokenization and blockchain can make international payments and liquidity management fast and efficient for different market segments, providing competitive prices dynamically in real time while fully complying with existing regulations and supervisory requirements”.
#78. 🇰🇷 Hana Financial Group ($365 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: In 2015, South Korean Bank Hana Financial Group announced its joining of the blockchain-enabled R3 consortium to maintain a competitive edge in the financial sector.
Applications: In the report, the company said that it is looking forward to making use of the global blockchain services provided by Corda in its overseas remittance services and security verification processes.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: No comments from Hana Financial Group were found, but, the bank intends to pass on the benefits of blockchain to its clients by lowering their banking fees. If the project goes according to the plan, Hana Financial Group will be fully implementing the blockchain technology to stay on par with other banks that are part of the consortium.
#85. 🇰🇷 Woori Bank ($313 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On September 22nd, 2020, Fund Block Global announced a partnership with Woori Global Asset Management to develop a ‘blockchain-based digital real estate fund service’.
Applications: The blockchain platform is said to be an innovative financial service that converts real estate funds into digital assets with blockchain technology and sells and distributes these funds to ordinary investors without any intermediary participants.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: Dongho Kim, CEO Woori Global Asset Management stated: “Using the transaction integrity of the blockchain through digital real estate fund services, the fund is transparently and securely managed to establish an innovative financial service that allows ordinary investors to easily transact without restrictions on time, place, and amount. “In addition, we will accelerate our entry into the global market by preoccupying the sales and distribution markets of publicly offered real estate funds through the digital asset platform and leading the creation of the digital financial industry ecosystem”.
#92. 🇩🇪 Landesbank Baden-Württemberg ($288 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On June 28th, 2017, Daimler and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) announced the successful execution of a transaction using blockchain technology.
Applications: Daimler and LBBW do not disclose the full details of their collaboration, but jointly stated that “blockchain will increase the automation of financial transactions so that they can be concluded much faster and more cost-efficient than in the past,” and “as a result, digital processes will replace labor-intensive manual steps that are so far necessary for processing during the creation of loan contracts and the examination of received payments”.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In the article that discloses LBBW’s research, Rainer Neske, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors LBBW stated: “This pilot shows our competence at digitization of financial services for our corporate customers. Technical progress opens completely new ways to make financial processes simpler and more efficient and enables new business models. We want to exploit this potential in order to further improve banking services for our customers”.
#93. 🇦🇹 Erste Group ($275 Billion in AUM)
Research Began: On October 23, 2018, Erste Group announced the successful launch of Europe’s completely blockchain-based capital markets issuance.
Applications: Without fully disclosing the details of the project, the bank claims that “[by] applying blockchain technology to provide issuers and investors with improved efficiency, more transparency and a lower level of operational risk, the platform promises to make Schuldscheindarlehen and similar capital markets products more accessible and their handling more efficient, both for corporate issuers and for institutional investors”.
View on Security Tokens/ Blockchain: In a public statement, Head of Group Markets Origination and Funding Erste Group, Bernhard Leder stated: “We’re very proud to have applied blockchain technology in a way that promises to make Schuldscheindarlehen more attractive to both issuers and investors. By removing the need for manual steps that are labour-intensive, slow and potentially error-prone, our real-world implementation of blockchain can make the issuance of such instruments quicker, simpler and more efficient”.
If you have seen new updates or new top 100 banks launch programs that are not on this list, please leave a comment below and we’ll validate the information and update our list.
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