News from Asia: Bank of China Joins Blockchain

Property development firm New World Development and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) will work together to develop and launch a blockchain platform for home buyers with the Bank of China reportedly being roped in as the first bank user. Local news outlet the Standard reported the venture on Feb. 20.

The vice chair of New World Development, Adrian Cheng is optimistic that the DLT platform will be the first step towards renovating the real estate sector which he says last saw the introduction of high technology 30 years ago. According to The Standard: [The DLT platform] allows all dat[a] users in the ecosystem to share customer information and transaction histories securely over a distributed data infrastructure, without compromising customer privacy or sensitive business information.

Bid For Efficiency

The platform reportedly aims to use digital authorization to replace paperwork operations — such as signing the Provisional Sale and Purchase Agreement or a mortgage application. This will supposedly allow users to send the purchaser’s authorized, encrypted and digitally signed provisional agreement to selected banks.

Aside from the increase in the overall number of users that the integration of distributed ledger technology (DLT) into organizations’ internal processes is believed to award, it is also estimated to help reduce banks’ operating costs by 15 to 60 percent. Hugh Chow, CEO of ASTRI reportedly voiced his hope of DLT reshaping property market operations, resulting in efficient and flexible property buying procedures.

Bank of China — one of the four largest state-owned banks in China — partnered with financial services corporation China UnionPay (CUP) last April with the objective to explore blockchain technology applications for payment systems. CUP was on the contract to build a unified port for mobile integrated financial services, where cardholders will be able to use a QR code to spend, transfer and trade on a cloud flash payment app.

In January, the China Banking Association (CBA) – China’s self-regulatory bank organization, announced its intent to launch a blockchain-based platform in a bid to improve efficiency across the sector. The project formally referred to as the “China Trade Finance Inter-bank Trading Blockchain Platform,” aims to use blockchain to hopefully make trade finance, transactions, and other financial services more efficient. Reportedly,  HSBC, Bank of China and Ping An Bank has joined the project. United Nations Development Bank has also agreed to sponsor the project with several banks lined up.

Bouncing Back Up Again

The crypto market seems to be rejuvenating as capitalization rose further to $135 billion, as opposed to $120 billion last Friday. The Bank of China is joining a new blockchain platform for homebuyers, as per the Hong Kong news outlet The Standard. The Standard reported that PropTech, launched by New World Development and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) has found its first bank user in the Bank of China (Hong Kong).

Hong Kong’s de-facto bank – The Hong Kong Monetary Authority released a report that stated that it estimates that distributed ledger technology could reduce banks’ operating costs by 15 to 60 percent. A group set up by the association in 2017 was joined by several banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered (LON: STAN) Bank to develop the technology.

Facebook seems to be keeping a keen eye on Blockchain as its CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said the company considering a potential blockchain use case where users could have control over their data. “Basically, you take your information, you store it on some decentralized system and you have the choice to log into places without going through an intermediary,” he told Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain.

China seems to be banking heavily on Blockchain, as evidenced by the country’s “Guiding Opinions on Rural Service Revitalization of Financial Services.” This new framework aims to utilize cutting edge technologies like distributed ledger technology for improving identification, monitoring, early warning, and disposal levels of agricultural credit risks.
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