LSE, CME and Major Banks Reportedly Form ‘Blockchain Settlement Group’

Big names including London Stock Exchange (LSE), LCH.Clearnet, Societe Generale, CME Group, UBS and Euroclear are reportedly joining forces to form a ‘Blockchain Settlement Group’ that would explore how blockchain technology can streamline post-trade processes.

The group, according to a Financial News report citing people familiar with the initiative, is appointing a steering committee and currently working under the name ‘Post Trade Distributed Ledger Working Group’.

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Bitcoin’s blockchain and analogous systems inspired by it are envisioned to transform the way securities and payments are settled, as well as for a plethora of other applications.

LSE reportedly hosted the first meeting. A spokesman reportedly said that LSE believes blockchain can potentially drive change across the capital markets industry in “in pre- and post-trade”, especially in risk management.

“We believe that driving innovation and developing new products using this exciting new technology will significantly reduce risk and margin requirements while delivering the opportunity for deeper regulatory oversight,” he said.

Working collaboratively with the various players in the industry is key, he explained, hence the formation of the group. “Our view is the technology needs to be developed in a considered and rigorous manner, in partnership with clients, to provide the right service and benefit to them. Given our long experience in post-trade, our group has significant technical expertise to bring to the discussion.”

The formation is analogous to the recently announced FIX Trading Community’s Digital Currency and Blockchain Working Group formed on the other side of the Atlantic, though LSE-led group is of a whole new magnitude.

CME is already involved in the FIX working group. From the LSE group, UBS has already been highly active in its exploration of blockchain technology, and Societe Generale joined a startup-led consortium of banks looking to standardize it.