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Negative news around a royal commission at home hasn't prevented the Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) from securing a prestigious mandate from the World Bank in Washington DC to deliver the first ever international blockchain bond.
Perhaps a play on the iconic Sydney beach the bond will be known as 'bond-i', which stands for 'Blockchain Offered New Debt Instrument'.
Bond-i has been developed with the support and input of the investor community including Northern Trust, QBE and Treasury Corporation of Victoria.
The milestone follows on from the CBA's partnership last year with Queensland Treasury Corp to test a prototype government bond on the blockchain platform with work from the bank's Blockchain Centre of Excellence.
In a release, CBA executive general manager of institutional banking & markets international, James Wall, highlighted a "collaborative approach" to innovation with the new technology.
"We believe that this transaction will be groundbreaking as a demonstration of how blockchain technology can act as a facilitating platform for different participants," Wall said.
"We are delighted to have partnered with the World Bank and fully support its vision of making innovative use of technology such as blockchain to increase the efficiency of financing solutions to better achieve their goal to end extreme poverty."
World Bank treasurer Arunma Oteh said she was delighted that after a year of working with CBA, the organisation was able to launch its first blockchain bond transaction.
"Since our first bond transaction in 1947, innovation has been an important hallmark of our success with leveraging capital markets for development," Oteh said.
"Given the transformative role of emerging technologies, we continue to prudently seek opportunities for us to meet investor needs as well as the needs of our clients," she said.
CBA Innovation Labs head of blockchain, Sophie Gilder, said the technology had the potential to revolutionise financial services and markets.
"This transaction is a significant step towards that future state," Gilder said.
"By working collaboratively with the World Bank, we were able to find solutions to technical and legal considerations to make this groundbreaking transaction a reality," she said.
"This project further solidifies CBA's position at the forefront of blockchain technology and we are excited to build on this, in partnership with our clients."
Photo credit: Pixabay, Creative Commons
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