The Canadian Depository for Securities Ltd. (CDS) is participating in an initiative with three other international securities depositories to develop a blockchain solution for cross-border collateral transfers.
Specifically, CDS, along with Luxembourg’s Clearstream, Norway’s VPS, and Strate of South Africa, are working with Deutsche Boerse to build a blockchain prototype for efficiently mobilizing cross-border collateral.
The aim is to make collateral transfers faster and more efficient between securities depositories utilizing a distributed ledger model, also commonly known as blockchain.
“With this initiative, we pursue an innovative partnership approach that will allow us to jointly embark on distributed ledger technology with a use-case that is highly relevant to the wider industry,” says Glenn Goucher, president and chief clearing officer with CDS, in a statement.
“We look forward to engaging with regulators and market participants to validate the proposed solution,” adds Monica Singer, CEO of Strate, in a statement. “We are convinced that integrating this new technology into a permissioned environment of neutral regulated entities is the right way forward.”
Regulators’ and market participants’ validation process will start in the second quarter of 2017, the firms report.