Infosys Finacle,
part of EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infosys (NYSE: INFY), along
with its partner Let’s
Talk Payments (LTP), today released a global
survey report - “Blockchain Technology:
From Hype to Reality”. According to the report, over 80 percent of bankers
surveyed expect to see commercial adoption of the technology by 2020, with nearly
half (50 percent) of the financial institutions already investing or planning
to invest during 2017. This announcement builds on the recent
announcement by Emirates NBD and ICICI
Bank on the deployment of blockchain technology in international remittances
and trade finance.
The
aim of the study, which included a survey of more than 100 financial services
professionals, was to understand the sentiment of blockchain technology in the
following areas:
·
The technology’s current understanding
in the banking industry
·
Adoption strategies and
investments being pursued
·
The opportunities and
challenges that the industry is dealing with
Highlights:
·
33 percent of respondents
expect to see commercial blockchain adoption by 2018, while a majority (nearly
50 percent) see mainstream adoption by 2020
·
According to the survey, the
average investment in blockchain projects in 2017 is expected to be about USD 1
million
·
Majority of banks, about 69
percent, are experimenting with permissioned blockchains
·
About 50 percent of the banks
are either working with a FinTech start-up or technology company to augment
their blockchain capabilities, whereas another 30 percent are opting for the
consortium model
·
According to the study, 51 percent
of executives driving the blockchain initiatives are either Chief Technology
Officers or Chief Innovation Officers
·
The study confirms that the blockchain
roll out would be prioritized in business areas where it can significantly
improve transparency, automate processes across enterprises as well as reduce
settlement and transaction time
·
The study further revealed
that the top five use cases that are expected to go to production are: cross
border payments, digital identity management, clearing and settlement, letter
of credit process and syndication of loans. These use cases scored more than
3.2 on a scale of one to five, wherein one being the least prioritized use case
for commercial adoption and five being most prioritized
The
full report can be downloaded here.
Sanat Rao, Chief Business
Officer and Global Head, Finacle, said, “This research
reaffirms our belief that the blockchain technology has potential to help banks
reimagine banking processes. The technology can help banks automate
inter-organization processes, significantly improve transparency and reset
existing operational benchmarks. Several progressive organizations have already
executed pilots to validate these propositions. We believe, in the coming
quarters, the industry will experience greater momentum towards rolling out
lab-pilots to real-life use cases.”
Survey methodology
LTP
surveyed 100 business and technology leaders from 75 institutions ranging from regional
banks to multinational banks on behalf of Infosys Finacle.