The State Bank of India officially launched India’s first national blockchain alliance, Bank-Chain, to promote the cooperation of Indian banks in the development of blockchain

India’s largest commercial bank, State Bank of India (SBI), has officially announced the establishment of a new project, Bank-Chain, which will be India’s first banking blockchain exploration alliance.

According to Express Computer, India’s most famous IT media brand, SBI believes that for the healthy development of the financial industry, it is crucial for banks to collaborate in developing blockchain solutions.

An SBI spokesperson said that Bank-Chain will enable major banks to jointly explore, create and implement blockchain solutions that can minimize fraud and improve efficiency, security and transparency. Bank-Chain has now been officially launched with the help of Primechain Technologies, an Indian startup focused on blockchain.

Primechain CEO Shinam Arora said:

“Blockchain has some fast-acting use cases, including anti-money laundering, currency exchange and remittances, KYC, digital signatures, financial messaging, and more.”

Axis Bank, Central Bank of India, DCG Bank, Deutsche Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Saraswat Bank have also expressed interest in working with Bank-Chain.

Some of the core benefits that blockchain brings to the banking industry include faster, more convenient and more secure services that make customers more satisfied, minimize fraud, maximize efficiency, security and transparency, simplify paperwork, accelerate the flow of information and money, and greatly improve auditability.

Prasanna Lohar, a radical change agent at DCB Bank, told Express Computer:

“Blockchain can do much more than just transfer money. In recent days, blockchain adoption in India and blockchain awareness in the government has grown significantly and the government’s openness to the technology will translate into relaxed regulation of blockchain. Blockchain has the potential to transform the way we live, such as faster settlement times, lower collateral requirements and counterparty risks, optimized contract terms, higher transparency in regulatory reporting, better capital optimization, reduced operational costs and corruption-free. The trend in blockchain today is collaboration, such as between competing banks, technology companies, financial institutions and regulators. This will bring benefits to consumers and the financial system. The collaboration between these different stakeholders will bring multiple innovative and cost-effective use cases in various areas such as clearing and settlement, payments, smart assets, identity management, data management and data protection, AML and KYC and governance, which may bring a sharing economy to the Indian banking services industry. In the wake of demonetization, UPI and other innovation movements, blockchain will be an “agent of radical innovation” in India.