Blockchain could have a “huge promise” for the banking and financial industry, according to the CEO of the Spanish bank BBVA (NYSE:BBVA), Carlos Torres Vila.
The future of blockchain could influence many different industries, including car services such as Uber, data protection, and the financial services sector, but there is still no guarantee on whether the technology will be accepted by other institutions.
Torres Vila told CNBC on Monday that he believes blockchain “can bring about more efficient processes” to the industry, although it is still in its early stages. Blockchain could provide a sufficient way for financial companies and banks to reduce costs and avoid cases of fraud.
As a public digitalized ledger that is unable to be altered, blockchain makes it more difficult for fraud involving documents or transactions to occur.
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Ralph Hamers, the CEO of the Amsterdam-based banking and financial services company ING Group (AMS:INGA), has also said that blockchain could change the industry and even said that he believes it could take approximately five to six years for it to reach global standards;
“I think the banks are really working on this now because the potential is so huge and if the top five, six global banks would put their minds to it and agree on a standard, you could force (that) standard onto the globe.”
Torres Vila has said that the time frame that Hamers suggest seems to be a good estimate, stating that he “[thinks] it does have that promise and [he] [thinks] that timeframe should be about right… but we will see how it develops.”
Some of the major companies that have invested in or explored blockchain technology include HSBC Holding PLC (NYSE:HSBC), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), and JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM).
How soon do you think it would take the financial industry to fully adopt blockchain technology?
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