Financial institutions have no shortage of data, but without the right systems and levels of automation, managing it can be difficult and expensive. Blockchain technology offers a simple way to cut the complexity and cost of data management and distribution.
Blockchain explained
At the most basic level, blockchain is a record of data between people or organisations on a shared network. The 'block’ represents the data stored, and the ‘chain’ is the network of blocks. If anyone tries to change the data by altering the ‘block’, our blockchain technology shows that change to be out of sync with the rest of the network.
For this reason, blockchain makes it’s almost impossible for one person to hack or fraudulently change shared data. It also provides an audit trail of the data by giving everyone on the network a direct line of sight to the person who published the data. That’s important for anyone who needs to prove ownership of something or relies on the accuracy of data.
The technology also makes it easier to move data across borders or industries without any compromise to the data’s accuracy or security. Lots of parties can track and trace where their information is coming from. And with a private blockchain, everyone can share the responsibility for the integrity of the data.
Enabling trust and improving efficiency
Blockchain is becoming increasingly prevalent across the financial services industry because it helps grow trust and enable more efficient ways of working. Today we're applying it to support new requirements in Australia around advice fee consent, and there are opportunities across global financial services markets, too. In fact, blockchain can deliver benefits in any environment where there are high-risk transactions underpinned by manual and mechanical processes.
Less complexity is better for everyone
How does this make life and business better for financial services? By promoting more trust, less complexity and greater efficiency when it comes to data transfers and management.
We think the industry is generally too reliant on manual processes to handle and pass around data, which can lead to risks around accuracy and trust. Adding blockchain to an organisation’s technology infrastructure can remove or lessen these risks by removing data inaccuracies, automating inefficient tasks and building a stronger sense of trust across networks.
From there, organisations can start to build many other high integrity services using blockchain because the trust in the data is so high. That should mean higher quality services at a lower cost base. And what business doesn’t want that?
