Moving an entire banking sector onto DLT: The Italian banking sector use case

Abstract

Blockchain technology has in recent years gained significant appeal worldwide in view of its potential to transform the way we do business. In this regard, one of the most attractive architectural concepts is the consortium Blockchain, where a group of peers, leveraging a common governance, collaborate to define rules and technology development. A consortium Blockchain is highly beneficial in a setting where multiple organisations operate in the same industry, but it is not immune from challenges, including investment, education and data standardisation. This paper provides an analysis of the evolution of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) technologies and the regulatory approach along with a practical case study on the use of Blockchain in the Italian banking sector. This sector has successfully pioneered the use of Blockchain/DLT with a new application, Spunta Banca DLT, for straight-through processing of interbank reconciliation. Finally, challenges, opportunities and important learnings are discussed.