OCBC Bank has conducted a successful pilot payment transaction with its subsidiaries OCBC Malaysia and Bank of Singapore on 8 November 2016, using blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT), Fintech Singapore reported.

According to OCBC Bank, blockchain technology makes payments more secure, faster, cheaper and more transparent. The two pilot payment transactions include:

• Cross-border funds transfer between OCBC Bank Singapore and OCBC Malaysia
   
• Local funds transfer between OCBC Bank Singapore and its private banking arm, Bank of Singapore

With this, OCBC Bank has become the first bank in Southeast Asia to use DLT in its local and cross-border payment funds transfer services. The payment blockchain solution used in the pilot transaction has been jointly designed by OCBC Bank and local banking payment solutions company BCS Information Systems (BCSIS).

“Blockchain technology is the most transformative technology to date. It is set to revolutionise the financial industry and change the way we work. As such, we are pleased to be the first bank in Southeast Asia to have completed a successful trial for applying this technology to make real-time international payments a reality”, Praveen Raina, Senior Vice President, Group Operations & Technology, OCBC Bank, said (quoted by Fintech Singapore).

Once the blockchain payment solution is fully integrated, the BCSIS blockchain platform will be able to facilitate inter-bank payments between banks in Singapore and overseas without the need for a payment intermediary. Moreover, the bank will extend the use of blockchain technology to other financial products and service applications.

“This blockchain initiative continues to build on our culture of innovation at OCBC where we have scored a few firsts: The first bank in Southeast Asia to launch an open Application Programming Interface (API) platform; the first bank in Asia Pacific to enable secure payments via Apple’s Siri and iMessage; and the first bank in Singapore to launch biometric authentication for mobile banking apps, amongst many others”, Raina added.