Credit Suisse Group is the latest global bank to agree that cross-border payments are ready for distributed financial tech. Image: Shutterstock
In a new 135-page report, Credit Suisse offers their research and expertise on blockchain, declaring that it will fundamentally change every aspect of banking and finance in the next ten years. Furthermore, the report comes to the same conclusion as Ripple on the question of where these shifts will occur first and have the most significant impact: cross-border payments.
“A shared ledger system creates significant opportunity for cost cutting in a number of areas where current processes are slow, cumbersome and highly frictional. These areas include the processing of trades in securities, trade finance and also in payments, particularly cross-border payments/transactions.”
Credit Suisse cites Ripple as example tech for banks to cut costs and increase revenues in #payments. Tweet This
Using Ripple as an example of a platform that could enable not only cost-cutting but also increased revenues, Credit Suisse cited McKinsey, affirming cross-border payments as one of the most potentially valuable applications of distributed ledger technology:
“A McKinsey-SIFMA study suggests that using blockchain for cross-border B2B (business-to-business) payments could generate $50-60bn of ‘value’ resulting from lower costs/fees and better security and speed.”
Although McKinsey’s prediction and the Credit Suisse report overall make a conservative estimate of how soon this technology could deploy and banks begin to reap the benefits of innovation, the latter points out that Santander U.K. is already using Ripple for international payments. Widespread adoption may not be on every bank’s doorstep, but it has surely started.
The report goes on to describe the use of Ripple technology for trade finance, pointing out that the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) and Standard Chartered tested Ripple’s distributed ledger technology in 2015 to improve immutability and minimize the risk of fraudulent invoicing.
With this report, Credit Suisse adds its voice to a rising chorus of experts who agree on the change the world is already beginning to see, and the creation of the Internet of Value:
- Cooperation between banks and fintech enables the best results.
- Cross-border payments are the best possible use case for distributed ledger technology.
- As a provider of that technology, Ripple is an unparalleled leader.
Read the full report here.
