Former Bank of England director joins blockchain startup SETL

     Blockchain platform Setl has appointed former Bank of England executive director David Walker as its new chairman.

     Walker is a veteran of the financial markets, having previously served as chairman of Barclays, Morgan Stanley International and the Securities and Investment Board.

     He is also a senior member of the G30 group that develops and improves international payment and settlement processes. Before starting his financial career, Walker also served as an Assistant Secretary to the Treasury in the UK government.

Speaking about his upcoming role as Setl chairman, Walker said in a statement:

     “Blockchain is a significant advancement in settlement technology, and Setl’s proposal for its deployment is intriguing.”

He added: “By streamlining the payment and settlement process, SETL will be able to deliver operational efficiencies that will benefit all market participants and, most importantly, reduce costs borne by depositors and investors.”

More about SETL

First announced in July this year, the SETL startup is determined to simplify the way assets are traded using blockchain technology, bypassing intermediaries in the subsequent post-trade system.

In October, Walker said after taking over at Setl that it was now able to process 10 billion transactions per day, a “milestone” in scaling blockchain technology. When SETL first launched, its network was only able to process 5,000 transactions per second, or 432 million transactions per day.