PODCAST | Block-chain is democratising value, Standard Bank says

Improving the current bond market using blockchain technology is the focus in this edition of the Business Day Spotlight.

Host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Ian Putter, Standard Bank's group head for its Blockchain Centre of Excellence.

Putter says the centre specialises in working out how blockchain — the technology that powers cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin — can be applied to the traditional financial services sector to improve or streamline its processes.

The bond market broadly refers to a marketplace where investors buy and sell debt securities or instruments that are brought in by either governmental entities or corporations.

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Given the amount of work that it usually takes in financial markets for investors to bid, buy and settle trades on bonds, for example, Putter says they see opportunity to reduce that complexity using this new technology.

Topics of discussion include: the work being done by the bank’s Blockchain Centre of Excellence; the current structure of the bond market; ways in which blockchain technology can be used to improve the bond market; how public distributed ledger technologies can overcome the challenges faced by bond marketplace participants; the importance of creating a decentralised economy; considerations when choosing a public distributed ledger; and the global trend towards decentralised systems of finance.

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• Business Day Spotlight is a MultimediaLIVE production.