Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) are old buzzwords now. Do you know why? Because now we’re entering the age of BaaS. That is, Banking as a Service. And the credit of ushering in this new era goes to blockchain technology.

That’s right. Believe it or not, but Banking as a Service has become a reality as Alfa Bank of Russia and X5 Retail Group (the largest Russian food retailer and a partner of Alfa Bank) have started a new service over the Waves platform. They are launching a new liquidity management service called Distributed Treasury and Cash Management (DTCM), which will allow Alfa Bank’s corporate clients to manage their banking services inside the holding.

The announcement of this new service came only a few hours back. It will act as a bridge between Alfa Bank and its customers, allowing them to customize the services of the bank as per their requirement with the help of smart contracts. That way, it is the facilitator of the BaaS model between both parties. Clients will access it through a virtual treasurer work station, and a qualified e-signature will be used along with smart contracts of DTCM to interact with the bank.

In case you don’t know about Alfa Bank, it’s the biggest private bank of Russia in terms of total assets and equity. As far as Waves platform is concerned, it’s 33rd largest crypto project in the crypto market by market cap (as per CMC). Therefore, it will be interesting to see whether this collaboration successfully ignites a new trend in the banking sector or not.