Blockchain is an important innovative technology for financial infrastructure development that can disrupt existing business models, financial and technology experts say.

The complex report entitled “The Future of Financial Infrastructure: An ambitious look at how blockchain can reshape financial services” is 129 pages long. It took a year to prepare the document with the help of the industry leaders and financial services experts.

The Steering Committee responsible for the report includes Vice Chairman of Deloitte & Touche LLP Robert Contri, President of Thomson Reuters David Craig, HSBC CEO John Flint, top managers of Deutsche Bank, UBS, Barclays, Visa, Allianz: Kim Hammonds, Axel Lehmann, Michael Harte, William Sheedy, Dieter Wemmer.

The study presents the results of the in-depth analysis of seven cases of the distributed ledger technology implementation: in global payments, processing insurance claims, trade financing / lending, debt capital raising, automated settlement of disputes and claims, voting in investment management and market forecasting.

The report quotes six key findings regarding the future of the blockchain technology in the financial sphere.

1. The distributed ledger technology (DLT) has great potential to drive simplicity and efficiency through the establishment of new financial services infrastructure and processes.

2. DLT is not a panacea; instead it should be viewed as one of many technologies that will form the foundation of next generation financial services infrastructure.

3. Applications of DLT will differ by use case, each leveraging the technology in different ways for a diverse range of benefits.

4. Digital Identity is a critical enabler to broaden applications to new verticals; Digital Fiat (legal tender), along with other emerging capabilities, has the ability to amplify benefits.

5. The most impactful DLT applications will require deep collaboration between incumbents, innovators and regulators, adding complexity and delaying implementation.

6. New financial services infrastructure built on DLT will redraw processes and call into question orthodoxies that are foundational to today’s business models.

The WEF study reminds that more than 24 countries around the world are investing in the distributed ledger technology, more than 90 companies have formed several consortia for its development, more than 90 central banks are involved in the discussion of the technology implementation, and the investment in the industry over the past three years amounted to more than $1.4 bln.

Elena Platonova