Standard Chartered Joins Blockchain Consortium EEA

Standard Chartered announced that it has joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), a standards organization focused on developing open blockchain specifications.

Launched in 2017, members of the EEA include Intel, Banco Santander, BBVA, Credit Suisse, Bank of New York Mellon, Accenture, ING, Thomson Reuters and UBS, among others. As the latest financial institution to join the consortium, Standard Chartered will work with other industry leaders on Ethereum-based enterprise technology best practices, open standards and open-source reference architectures. According to the bank, its membership is proof of its commitment to blockchain.

“Technology enables us to facilitate trade and investment across our footprint markets, improving client experiences and offering new services,” Dr Michael Gorriz, group chief information officer at Standard Chartered, said in a press release. “We are excited to be a part of the EEA and look forward to opportunities where we can collaborate with other leading industry players to deepen blockchain research and application in the banking sector.”

This is Standard Chartered’s latest move in its quest to use technology to make financial systems more efficient and accessible for its clients. It is one of the founding members of blockchain-based open industry platform Voltron, and has also co-created blockchain-enabled supply chain financing solutions with China-based Linklogis.

And in August, Standard Chartered announced that it was expanding its network of innovation labs with the launch of an eXellerator lab in Shanghai, joining existing locations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kenya, London and San Francisco. The latest lab aims to promote collaboration between the bank’s employees, corporate clients and FinTech partners to develop new financial services for businesses. Standard Chartered plans to collaborate with local FinTechs on their own solutions in the market, while also working with corporate clients to create new products to address their needs — particularly when it comes to cross-border payments.