Last year the Deutsche Börse Group completed the acquisition of the FundsDLT fund distribution platform originally founded by the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Now Zürcher Kantonalbank and UBS Asset Management participated in a pilot of the blockchain-based solution.
The bank issued a subscription order for UBS fund units using the blockchain platform. Zürcher Kantonalbank was able to see the status of the transaction and its final execution using the platform.
“The use of blockchain should enable our customers to process transactions even more efficiently in the future,” said Peter Hubli, Head of Digital Asset Solutions at Zürcher Kantonalbank. “Blockchain technology can offer added value in the future.”
From the start, the goal of FundsDLT has been to enhance transparency and garner efficiencies, including by removing some processes.
In August 2023, Standard Chartered announced plans to adopt FundsDLT for its transfer agency business in the Middle East. A little over a year later, it was boasting about 60% cost savings. While cost cutting was its first purpose, it started to consider offering a digital transfer agency solution to others, in order to help the industry to streamline.
This may also be an indication of the progress of the platform. Because UBS and Zürcher Kantonalbank each took part in separate FundsDLT trials four years ago.
Zürcher Kantonalbank: safe but innovative
Zürcher Kantonalbank has leaned into blockchain and DLT. It is regarded as the second safest bank in the world, which didn’t prevent it from starting to offer cryptocurrency services to its clients late last year. The solution involved partnering with another Deutsche Börse Group subsidiary, Crypto Finance.
It is also a member of the SIX Digital Exchange, and has helped arrange at least two digital bond issuances on the platform for the City of Lugano. The second one also involved the use of Switzerland’s wholesale CBDC.
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