Equiniti, a leading company in technology, finance and administrative services, announced that it has appointed Equiniti’s Chief Strategist Dr. Michael Foley as the head of their blockchain technology research and development team.

The official release stated that Foley will be focusing on the transformative nature of the distributed ledger for the company, the potentials it holds and the opportunities it will bring its clients in terms of cost and speed, security and traceability.

“Since Equiniti acquired Dr Foley’s business, he has worked closely with the team to build our financial technology offering to where it is today. We are looking forward to him helping us build our Blockchain capability, which is being described at this year’s Sibos as the application of 21st century technology to the post-trade space,” Guy Wakeley, CEO of Equiniti said.

The inherent feature in blockchain technology will have various opportunities in sectors such as payments and securities as well as in new markets. The company has established a dedicated R&D team at its Cardiff Fintech Centre of Excellence in order to work with third parties in both industry and academia.

Equiniti is a specialist outsourcer delivering technology-enabled solutions to large enterprises. It processes £90bn in payments every year, handles 88 million documents and pays 20 per cent of pensioners in the UK.