BBVA Completes Blockchain-Powered Syndicated Financing of $150 Million

According to the UK- based financial news bulletin Finextra, the second largest bank in Spain, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has executed a $150 million blockchain syndicated loan.

The syndicated bank deal has been performed on a private blockchain platform through a consortium of three financing banks, which includes French banking group BNP Paribas, Japan’s bank holding Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), and BBVA.

Acting as the sole underwriter of the deal, BBVA also managed to rope in state -controlled Spanish company Red Eléctrica de España and two multinational law firms, UK – based Linklaters and Herbert Smith Freehill.

The signed agreement for the syndication was saved on the open blockchain Ethereum (ETH) after each phase was stored on the Hyperledger-based system. To guarantee the immutability of information vis – à – vis intermediate parties, contract signatures have been saved in the distributed ledger as special record identifiers, explains Finextra.

BBVA’s head of global finance Ricardo Laiseca opined that the latest blockchain-associated activity by the bank may be a portion of the company’s endeavor to offer corporate clients with “the most inventive financing solutions.” In mid-September, BBVA’s chairman Francisco Gonzalez Rodriguez expressed that blockchain innovation is “perfect,” and gives “big, enormous tools.” Rodriguez moreover focused that cryptocurrencies that are based on blockchain innovation are frequently utilized for “bad purposes” and “must be understood.”

Notably, this summer, BBVA inked a deal with Spanish energy firm Repsol to mutually create blockchain-enabled devices for corporate banking.