JPMorgan Chase grows blockchain network to more than 340 banks

Dive Brief:

More than 340 banks have signed up to be part of JPMorgan Chase's blockchain network, the Interbank Information Network (IIN), which aims to speed up cross-border payments.
Several large banks have signed on to the blockchain network in recent weeks, including Deutsche Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd, one of Singapore's largest banks. JPMorgan says 65 banks have gone live on IIN since last year.
"The more banks that join the network, the more dramatic the reduction in payment delays," John Hunter, JPMorgan's head of global clearing for treasury services, said in a statement. "As the network scales, our clients' payments will be processed faster with less operational expense." The bank said it plans to grow the network to 400 by the end of the year.

Dive Insight:

JPMorgan first launched the network as a pilot program in 2017, aimed at minimizing friction in cross-border transactions by enabling payments to reach beneficiaries faster and with fewer steps.

About 40% of the network's banks are financial institutions in Asia, and the recent addition of Deutsche Bank gives JPMorgan ties to Europe's largest euro transaction clearer, according to Banking Exchange.

"Having Deutsche join — and hopefully Deutsche will be the first of several other large banks — is going to help us drive toward ubiquity and ubiquity is a prerequisite for the success of the network," Takis Georgakopoulos, head of payments at JPMorgan told The Financial Times.

JPMorgan joins other financial institutions and payments companies that are making moves to speed up their cross-border payments services.

PNC Bank last month became the first U.S. bank to process cross-border payments on Ripple's blockchain payments platform RippleNet. The service is available to corporate clients of the bank's PNC Treasury Management unit.

Payment network Mastercard is also looking to boost the speed of its transactions.

The company announced this month that it was partnering with software provider R3 to "develop and pilot" a blockchain-powered platform focused on making faster business-to-business (B2B) cross-border payments.

The partnership follows the company’s July acquisition of Transfast, a payments company that boasts a cross-border network reaching 90% of the world's accounts. Additionally, the company has partnered new with Marco Polo, a consortium that uses R3's Corda blockchain platform to simplify global trade through real-time connectivity and easier access to capital.