Banks and financial market leaders are turning to Blockchain to create new business models, two new studies from IBM show. Two thirds of surveyed banks expect to be in production within three years.
Commercial blockchain solutions are rapidly being adopted throughout banking and financial markets, dramatically faster than initially expected. 15 percent of banks and 14 percent of financial market institutions interviewed by IBM intend to implement full-scale, commercial blockchain solutions in 2017.
The new IBM study, «Leading the Pack in Blockchain Banking: Trailblazers Set the Pace,» is based on a survey of 200 global banks and a second new IBM study, «Blockchain Rewires Financial Markets: Trailblazers Take the Lead», is based on a survey of 200 global financial markets institutions.
First Mover Advantage
Mass adoption isn’t that far behind with roughly 65 percent of banks expecting to have blockchain solutions in production in the next three years.
Conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), the banking study revealed that more than 70 percent of trailblazers surveyed, or early adopters, are prioritising blockchain efforts in order to break down current barriers to creating new business models and reaching new markets.
The Encroachment of Fintech
These early adopters and innovators are also better positioned to defend themselves against competitors, including those untraditional disruptors like startup non-banks.
For financial markets institutions, seven out of 10 trailblazers surveyed are focusing their blockchain efforts on four areas: clearing and settlement, wholesale payments, equity and debt issuance, and reference data.
