By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 12th, 2024
Global bank HSBC has processed $250B transaction using blockchain. Being set to further push blockchain adoption, the company is now exploring how this technology could help its multinational clients.
HSBC, one of world’s largest multinational banking and financial services company, announced it had processed more than 3 million foreign exchange (fx) transactions using blockchain technology. The total worth of the transactions makes more than $250 billion.
As Financial Times has reported, since last February, when HSBC blockchain platform “FX Everywhere” was officially launched, 3 million transactions led to a whopping number of 150,000 payments.
According to Richard Bibbey, the global head (acting) of currencies with HSBC, the bank is trying to ‘conduct thousands of foreign exchange transactions within the bank, across multiple balance sheets, in dozens of countries’. He said:
“FX Everywhere uses distributed ledger technology to drastically increase the efficiency of these internal flows.”
The data are impressive. They mark a significant milestone in the use of blockchain by mainstream finance companies, which have until now been reluctant to use the technology. The overall payment volumes the bank had last year are not revealed, but Richard Bibbey noted that these blockchain-based transactions represented a small section of the volume the bank usually handles.
Bibbey added that transactions the bank handles can range across different balance sheets and countries, and the DLT platform makes these internal flows more efficient.
He said:
“Following successful implementation inside the bank, we are now exploring how this technology could help multinational clients – who also have multiple treasury centres and cross-border supply chains – better manage foreign exchange flows within their organisations.”
It is obvious that HSBC is doing a lot in terms of boosting the adoption of blockchain technology and encouraging crypto enthusiasts.
About HSBC
HSBC is one of the largest financial services organizations in the world. Its global businesses serve more than 38 million customers worldwide through a network of around 3,800 offices in 66 countries and territories. HSBC has offices in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. HSBC is known for a conservative and risk-averse approach to business – a company tradition going back to the 19th century.
The bank’s work with blockchain technology began last year. Last February, HSBC senior innovation manager Joshua Kroeker stated that the company was on the verge of launching pilot programs to organize blockchain transactions.
In May, HSBC completed the first in history speedy commercial trade finance transaction using blockchain. The transaction dealt with a shipment of soybeans transported from Argentina to Malaysia. Handling the deal for US food and agricultural group Cargill, HSBC issued a letter of credit to Dutch ING Bank NV.
Later, in October, HSBC partnered with the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange Bitfinex. The partnership was aimed at enhancing a level of stability of the exchange’s operations and bring more confidence to its clients. Becoming the partner of Bitfinex, HSBC replaced Noble Bank, based in Puerto Rico.