Banks Test KYC App Based On R3’s Blockchain Platform

Through a four-day test of a know-your-customer (KYC) compliance system, a group of 39 participants were able to make 300 transactions in 19 countries with an app from Synechron built on R3’s Corda blockchain platform. The experiment’s participants included banks such as BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank — as well as regulators, Coindesk reported.

“As our corporate membership continues to grow, there has been increasing demand for blockchain-based KYC solutions,” R3 CEO David E. Rutter said in a statement . “Not only does this project demonstrate how blockchain can allow institutions to retain control of and manage their own identity, but it also validates the design choices we made in our approach to privacy on Corda.”

The app was crested with privacy in mind, allowing the customers of firms to maintain their own identities. In addition, customers can either approve or deny bank access to their data.

The news comes a little more than a year after the R3 consortium raised $107 million from roughly half of its members, marking the largest funding round for the technology. According to a report, SBI Group, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC led the investment, which included more than 40 participants, including R3 members ING, Barclays and UBS. Intel and Temasek Holdings also participated in the fundraising.

Broadhaven Capital Partners was the sole advisor to R3 on the deal. The fundraising was the culmination of months of talks that resulted in Goldman Sachs, Santander and JPMorgan Chase getting out of investing talks. R3 was initially looking to raise $200 million but lowered it to $150 million, noted the report.

“This investment is unprecedented,” Rutter said at the time. “Many of the world’s largest financial firms have come together not just with capital support, but with a robust commitment to work with R3 in developing industry solutions that will be the building blocks of the new financial services infrastructure.”