TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Alviva shares leap higher on R3-billion take-private offer

      30 June 2022

      Datatec to sell Analysys Mason for as much as R4.1-billion

      30 June 2022

      Futuregrowth launches start-up fund, targets R600-million raise

      30 June 2022

      Eskom is killing the rand

      30 June 2022

      Eskom ramps up load shedding as crisis deepens

      30 June 2022
    • World

      Graphics card prices plummet as crypto demand dries up

      30 June 2022

      Bitcoin just had its worst quarter in a decade

      30 June 2022

      Samsung beats TSMC to 3nm chip production

      30 June 2022

      Napster plots crypto comeback

      29 June 2022

      Pictures: Chinese spacecraft acquires images of entire planet of Mars

      29 June 2022
    • In-depth

      The NFT party is over

      30 June 2022

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»SA banks to set up national blockchain

    SA banks to set up national blockchain

    News By Prinesha Naidoo11 July 2017
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    [dropcap]S[/dropcap]outh Africa’s largest and notoriously competitive financial services firms have come together to set up a national blockchain.

    The South African Financial Blockchain Consortium (SAFBC), comprising 22 industry heavyweights, the South African Reserve Bank and the Financial Services Board as observers, is currently exploring the technology powering the US$41bn bitcoin market.

    Blockchain technology is widely expected to up-end the global economy by revolutionising the way in which companies and consumers transact with each other. SAFBC is examining the technology with a view to make the current system more efficient and give rise to significant cost savings over the long term.

    No single company can launch its own proprietary blockchain that will change the status quo

    “It is remarkable that 24 institutions, generally perceived as competitors, recognise that the only way to unleash the potential of this tremendous technology is through collaboration, said Farzam Ehsani, SAFBC chairman and blockchain lead at Rand Merchant Bank.

    “No single company can launch its own proprietary blockchain that will change the status quo and bring about transformative benefits to the financial system. Collaboration is required.”

    Collaboration

    Collaboration among local firms is crucial in setting up a domestic standard. Firms may only transact with each other if they adopt the same blockchain platform. Moneyweb previously reported that a group of South African banks, which form part of SAFBC, had successfully swapped an asset among themselves using a private ledger on the ethereum network in 2016.

    In addition to ethereum, the SAFBC is now setting up “permissioned” ledgers on the Corda, Hyperledger and Chain Core platforms. All four blockchain platforms are currently being explored by financial institutions across the world, with one widely expected to be recognised as the global standard.

    Farzam Ehsani

    At this stage, talk among the SAFBC centres is around reducing inefficiencies and opportunities to save costs for institutions and end consumers, Ehsani said.

    He added that costs in financial systems are very high, and ultimately get passed on to customers. Blockchain-based record keeping within banks is expected to boost efficiency and bring down account fees over time. It is expected to reduce the need for proof-of-payment e-mails — the payment itself being the proof in real time — and to speed up the clearing of cross-border transactions.

    “Ultimately, the concept of cross-border payments will become as silly as the concept of cross-border e-mails,” Ehsani said.

    “Financial institutions need to adapt to better serve consumers. This technology promises greater efficiency and reduced costs and could open up the ecosystem to new players, ultimately benefitting consumers,” he added.

    SAFBC’s ongoing goals include educating the public about blockchain and demonstrating its power.

    It also aims to test its chosen blockchain platforms by issuing and swapping tokens across the networks and to rigorously test the scale and security of each network. It will also explore using a permissioned distributed ledger to store identity information so as to lessen the administrative requirements and costs associated with know-your-customer, or KYC, and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.

    At present, SAFBC’s membership is limited to institutions that operate within financial services. It comprises a technical sub-stream, made up of developers employed by its members, and a regulatory sub-stream, which is to solve regulatory hurdles and engage with oversight bodies.

    “The beauty of the SAFBC is that all of us — financial services players and regulators as observers — come together to explore a better way to serve South Africa’s financial needs,” said Ehsani.

    • This article was originally published on Moneyweb and is used here with permission
    Farzam Ehsani SAFBC South African Financial Blockchain Consortium top
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleLooming split could fracture bitcoin
    Next Article SAP caught up in Gupta ‘kickbacks’ scandal

    Related Posts

    Alviva shares leap higher on R3-billion take-private offer

    30 June 2022

    Datatec to sell Analysys Mason for as much as R4.1-billion

    30 June 2022

    Futuregrowth launches start-up fund, targets R600-million raise

    30 June 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Billetterie simplifies interactions between law firms and clients

    30 June 2022

    Think herding cats is tricky? Try herding a cloud

    29 June 2022

    How your business can help hybrid workers effectively

    28 June 2022
    Opinion

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.