Infosys has launched a blockchain framework at its global client conference in San Francisco. The framework was introduced by EdgeVerve Systems, a subsidiary of the Indian business technology company whose Finacle banking platform is used by banks around the world.
The EdgeVerve Blockchain Framework is a permissioned ledger that will allow banks to rapidly deploy blockchain-based services. The company said that blockchain-based applications, built on this framework, can deliver increased efficiencies, transactional security and accuracy at a lower cost than the existing high-cost ledger platforms that underpin the global banking systems.
“We took the open source platform that is the base for bitcoin and extended it with services for banking and financial services,” said Andy Dey, president at EdgeVerve. It could run within one department of a bank, across multiple departments or across many organizations, he added.
“There are strong network economics to having more and more participants,” he said. Dey said Infosys has had interest in blockchain technology from almost every large customer.
“They are interested in doing pilots and thinking of different scenarios, whether payments, treasury, transfer of any asset, contractual documents, trade finance or invoice financing. We are actively engaged with about 10 customers globally, but we expect to elicit more interest during the conference.”
Many of the top 50 banks have approached Infosys, said Peter Loop, principal technology architect at Infosys.
“They want to do some education. They are looking at payments, document management, and KYC.” Infosys runs a blockchain development center in India, research in Ireland and also works with tech firms in the Bay area, he added.
When customers ask how to get started, he suggests thinking of three building blocks, starting with some sort of asset transfer. The second block is proof of existence, identity management, KYC documents or documents for mortgages. “If you can provide a document and want to share it, that’s a second scenario. The third building block is a smart contract which can be used to build a very sophisticated financial transaction.
“Put the elements together in a workflow and you have a very good blockchain scenario.”
While banks have talked about blockchain for several years, this year banks have assigned budgets to it, said Dey.
Loop said that Infosys benefits from its experience in developing core banking systems.
“That really resonates with the banks. We understand banking and take componentized approach. Many blockchain solutions complement our core banking product. We make it asset agonistic; we added an API layer because we know we don’t have an out-of-the-box solution for everything. The user interface is there and onboarding is very simple.
Analytics becomes a very, very important part of it, he added.
“Combining data and analytics with blockchain provides a lot of insight."
In its announcement EdgeVerve said: “The framework uses blockchain in a distributed, permissioned environment. It is best suited for minimizing operating and per-transaction costs for financial services companies, while improving data openness and sharing, without compromising data integrity and security.” It can be used for multiple assets, so banks can store and transfer a variety of transaction assets within a single network. The API layer supports extensibility and administrative tools.
