Leading Japanese financial and technology companies have announced a demonstration test to verify the applicability of blockchain technology for enhancing cross-border trade operations.

Participating companies include Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), The Japan Research Institute (JRI), Mitsui & Co., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company (MSI) and IBM Japan. They have agreed to start the demonstration test this month.

In the demonstration test, the participating companies will input information of real trade transactions using a blockchain-based application, which will digitize, record, and share the documents among participants.

The test would compare a blockchain-based system against existing process to verify the effectiveness of the technology for enhancing security and reducing the time required to settle cross-border trade transactions, discrepancies among related documents and administrative costs. It will also look into the potential for commercialization and will evaluate the technology for its viability in cross-border trade business operations.

The demonstration test will use Hyperledger Fabric, a blockchain framework and one of the Hyperledger projects.