BBVA collaborates with R3 to create a trade finance app on the Corda platform
BBVA is one of 11 banking institutions that are collaborating on the development of the Voltron project, a platform based on DLT (distributed ledger technology) that puts exporters and importers in contact, in order to improve efficiency in trade finance.
R3, the consortium for financial innovation, has worked over the past year with 11 of its member companies in developing Voltron, a prototype platform for the digitization of the documentation processes of trade finance.
The application, developed on Corda, the DLT open platform of R3, has the potential to significantly reduce the inefficiencies and costs of these operations, by simplifying the processes involved in the documentation of letters of credit.
Still in the prototype phase, the tool functions as a marketplace in which importing and exporting companies can prepare and validate the details of shipments of goods on a shared and synchronized data base, even if they operate on different technological platforms.
BBVA, along with 11 other banking institutions and the technological partner, CGI Group, has participated in the research and testing process of this tool, during which the interoperability between the two platforms has been proven.
As David Rutter, CEO of R3, explained: “Like so many of the processes and systems banks are forced to use today, the infrastructure that supports trade financing is extremely outdated and prone to risk and error. The work we have been doing with our members over the last year has shown that this challenge no longer needs to stand in the way of giving businesses access to the services they need to trade across borders. The application we have built is the first of its kind and we look forward to rolling it out to our Corda users across the world.”
Other alliances
BBVA is exploring the potential of blockchain technology and of distributed ledgers to transform the financial sector through collaboration with other institutions in the sector. Apart from the R3 consortium, BBVA is a member of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, Hyperledger and Red Lyra in Spain. The objective of these alliances is to develop common standards and efficient platforms that allow companies to take advantage of distributed ledger technologies in the corporate world.