News that the entire Italian bank system is set to join a network on the R3 Corda blockchain platform to reconcile discrepancies in their separate ledgers for interbank transfers sends Euromoney scurrying to JPMorgan to check on progress with its Interbank Information Network (IIN).
While its developers, including the Italian Banking Association, proclaim the new Spunta Banca app as one of the first large-scale applications of blockchain in interbank markets, JPMorgan’s pioneering version went live 18 months ahead of it.
Established in the autumn of 2018 and running on the bank’s own Quorum platform, a permissioned variant of the Ethereum blockchain, IIN allows JPMorgan’s international network of correspondent banks – and other banks – to chase down the details of any failed payments to which they are a party, fill in missing identifiers or correct mistaken in-puts and so speed up reconciliation of delayed payments.
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John Hunter, |
John Hunter, global head of IIN at JPMorgan, says: “IIN provides a structured way for banks to reach out to any other bank on the network to see if they can share relevant information on a party to a payment that raises questions, even down to whether or not an account is open and active.
