India’s Largest Bank Partners with JPMorgan for Blockchain Payment Solution

The State Bank of India (SBI), a major Indian bank, has collaborated with Wall Street giant JPMorgan to utilize the latter’s blockchain solution for efficient cross-border transactions. 

SBI Collaborating with JPMorgan for Blockchain-based Cross-border Payments

According to the Economic Times on Wednesday (Feb. 23, 2021), the SBI would integrate a blockchain solution developed by the U.S. banking giant JPMorgan in its banking operations. The bank is the first financial institution in India to join the blockchain network.

The partnership with JPMorgan would enable cheaper and faster transactions for SBI customers. In addition, integrating the blockchain solution would slash the time frame needed to settle cross-border inquiries from two weeks to a few hours.

JPMorgan’s Liink is a peer-to-peer (P2P) network that reduces risks associated with cross-border transactions, as well as helps users to carry out secure and efficient P2P data transfers. Financial institutions and fintech companies have signed up to use the Liink platform.

So far, there are 100 banks globally that are active on the Liink network, with more private and state-owned institutions discussing with JPMorgan to join the blockchain platform.

Apart from SBI, there are other financial institutions in India reportedly looking to partner with the U.S. bank. According to anonymous sources, two private-sector lenders in Mumbai and a major government bank are interested in the initiative.

Speaking to the Economic Times concerning the latest development, Venkat Nageswar, SBI’s Deputy Managing Director, said:

“We have undergone a significant digital transformation in recent years and continue to add new technologies to create real value to daily operations. We are excited to be the first bank in India to go live on the network and look forward to a closer partnership with JP Morgan on implementation and exploring applications as part of the network to better serve our clients.”

Banks Partnering to Develop Blockchain-based Finance Systems

Back in 2019, JPMorgan launched its dollar-backed stablecoin dubbed “JPM coin.” As previously reported by BTCManager, the bank began customer testing for its crypto project in June of 2019.

Several banks have already joined JP Morgan’s blockchain consortium including the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC). Indeed, the collaboration between banks is becoming a popular theme when it comes to exploring methods of adopting the novel tech in the mainstream financial sector.