HSBC Uses Blockchain Technology to Complete FX Transactions Worth $250 Billion

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Global banking giant HSBC used blockchain technology to settle $250 billion worth of foreign exchange trades in 2018.

Using their private blockchain platform “FX Everywhere,” HSBC processed three million transactions, roughly 150,000 payments, reports the Financial Times.

Richard Bibbey, acting global head of currencies, says the technology allows HSBC to “conduct thousands of foreign exchange transactions within the bank, across multiple balance sheets, in dozens of countries.”

He adds,

“FX Everywhere uses distributed ledger technology to drastically increase the efficiency of these internal flows.”

Bibbey says the $250 billion of foreign exchange trades is a “small” portion of the company’s total payment volume. With 7,500 offices in over 80 countries, HSBC ranks as the fifth largest bank in the world.

Last May HSBC claimed it made the world’s first trade finance transaction using blockchain technology when it issued a letter of credit to Dutch lender ING for a shipment of soybeans from Argentina to Malaysia for international food and agriculture conglomerate Cargill. The trade, powered by R3’s Corda technology, took 24 hours compared to the standard five to ten days.

HSBC also helped launch a blockchain trade finance platform called eTrade Connect last October.