Russia’s Raiffeisen Bank Launches Blockchain Platform for Corporate Settlements

A new blockchain platform suitable for corporates has been developed by Raiffeisenbank, the Russian subsidiary of Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI).

The blockchain platform, focused on parent entities of business groups, enables automation of settlements by corporates and facilitates a dependable network for sharing information between firms that come under a business group.

In particular, platform supposedly automates settlement process between buyers and sellers, and also offers tools for financial administration.

Raiffeisenbank, which built the product at the behest of sleeping related products manufacturer Askona Life Group, is offering the blockchain platform to other corporate customers of bank.

Askona Life Group’s investment manager Evgeniy Kirillov stated that Raiffeisenbank’s blockchain tool enabled the firm to decrease labor expenses by over 40% and also totally nullify risks related to human errors.

Earlier, Raiffeisenbank had joined hands with Russian government-owned oil giant Gazprom Neft to disburse a bank guarantee on blockchain.

RBI, the Austrian company which owns Raiffeisenbank, had begun a trial of a trade finance platform based on R3 consortium’s enterprise level blockchain platform Marco Polo. The platform is being used by several international banks such as BNP Paribas, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and ING to name a few.