Central Bank of Colombia Announces First Blockchain Bond Pilot Program
El Banco de la República Colombia participated in a blockchain bond program pilot. Issued by Colombian commercial bank Davivienda, with counseling from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), this pilot pilot saught to explore the benefits of the new technology and study its application for future bond issues. The bonds will be issued and managed using IDB’s LACChain blockchain platform, and the role of the central bank will be to run an observing node in the blockchain and support settlement in its high-value payments system.
Swift goes live with payment pre-validation service
SWIFT’s Payment Pre-validation service that enables banks to verify payee account details before an international payment is sent, removing a key point of friction in cross-border transactions, went live. One of the leading causes for settlement fails or delays is incorrect beneficiary information. And because they are detected late in the process, these issues can be among the most time-consuming and costly to resolve. The new service allows a sending bank to confirm account details, via an API, with the receiving bank from the start of the process so that any data or account problems are identified up front.
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