Do Banks Even Want to Go Blockchain?

On June 18, Carlos Torres, CEO of Spanish bank BBVA, declared that blockchain is "Not mature" and faces major challenges.

Of these, along with at least 23 more involved in trying out blockchain remittances, the vast majority are Japanese banks, so Asia appears to be particularly ripe for blockchain solutions to traditional money wirings.

The platform, which is based on the bank's private Quorom blockchain, allows JPMorgan to exchange information with other banks and "Minimize friction in the global payments process," speed up the process and improve security, according to the bank.

IBM has announced a blockchain banking solution that aims to cut the settlement time and costs of international payments; and MasterCard has introduced its own blockchain technology for partner banks and merchants.

SWIFT is a 45-year-old Belgium-based interbank messaging service that handles about 50 percent of the world's high-value international payments and a co-operative owned by about 11,000 member banks.

In early March 2018, SWIFT said it had finished a "Proof-of-Concept" test of blockchain to coordinate cross-border payments between the accounts of 34 banks.

As SWIFT explained to the Financial Times, a substantial amount of banks would have to drastically modernize their systems before they could turn to a blockchain-based system for their cross-border payments.

Some banks are not ready for blockchainIt's not just SWIFT who's not that cheerful about the idea of moving to blockchain: some of the banks are pessimistic as well.

The Bank of England started testing its Real Time Gross Settlement service to conduct the transfer of funds between banks in "Real time" and on a "Gross basis" with plans to put it on a blockchain, but then changed its decision after trials, citing the technology's immaturity.

On June 14, a Bank of Canada official questioned the effectiveness and security of using blockchain tech for banking.