BME, through Iberclear, has brought together part of the Spanish financial community and will contribute its solution for the issuance and settlement of bonds with blockchain technology. This initiative will simulate the cash settlement of Central Bank money issued under DLT technology. Iberpay and Deloitte will collaborate with BME in the program as technical providers.
BME, through Iberclear, has been admitted to the exploratory work of the Eurosystem as a DLT market operator to conduct experiments on new technologies applicable to the settlement of wholesale Central Bank money operations. After an initial phase of experimentation already underway, on June 21st, the ECB Governing Council approved for an additional group of participants to test distributed ledger technology (DLT) for the settlement of central bank money operations, as part of the experimentation program that it maintains until 2024.
The proposal made by BME will allow evaluating the integration of digital tokens (wholesale central bank digital currencies or wCDBC) during the different phases of the digital bond life cycle. This initiative has been supported by 10 major custodians, including CaixaBank, Cecabank, CACEIS Bank Spain, Kutxabank Investment Norbolsa, Banco Sabadell, Renta 4 Banco, BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Unicaja, and Banco Cooperativo Español. Iberpay and Deloitte will also collaborate in the initiative as technical providers, given their position and sectoral experience as European payment systems. Both will contribute their expertise, both in the financial sector and in DLT network projects. These two entities facilitate the activities of custodians in experimentation to increase the learning capabilities that this initiative offers.
Jesús Benito, CEO of Iberclear, explains that “participation in this experimentation program is a new demonstration of BME’s innovative spirit, which is constantly seeking improvements in collaboration with technologies such as blockchain, to continue being leaders in the digitization and modernization of the financial market. Additionally, it provides us with the exceptional opportunity to experiment together with major Spanish custodians in the issuance and use of digital tokens in the Eurosystem. It is a unique opportunity to help our clients understand what these new technologies can bring to financial environments.”
The Eurosystem experimentation program is expected to conclude in November 2024, with the subsequent publication of the findings obtained.
Source: MiMub in Spanish