JPMorgan continues to expand its blockchain payment network. This time, the famous financial institution has 75 different multinational banks using the bank’s platform. The information was released by Financial Times this week.

 

JPMorgan’s Blockchain Platform Expands

As per the report, the participants want to remain competitive against new actors outside the banking sector. The Financial Times was able to talk with analyst Jason Goldberg about this blockchain network. He explained that the Interbank Information Network (IIN) was already seeing progress. The IIN has been under development during the last year and used JPMorgan’s Quorum blockchain.

Two other financial institutions, Societe Generale and Santander Group are looking to adopt this platform. This would allow institutions to share information about payments and improve transaction times.

 

With more efficient solutions and information, banks are able to compete with a growing private sector. In the last years, different companies entered the market offering cross-border payments. Most of these non-banking companies provide faster and less costly products and services.

On the matter, Goldberg commented:

 

“Payment is one of the segments banks worry most about in terms of ceding to non-bank competition. Blockchain is a way to keep more of that (payments business) in-house.”

Other important banks working with JPMorgan in this project are Goldman Sachs, Pfizer and the National Bank of Canada.

Salvador Casquero, a former JPMorgan and BBVA executive, is not very positive about the future. He says that banks have officially lost the battle against cryptocurrencies and other startups.

 

“From the ‘-tech’ suffix I witnessed how fintechs, unexpected technology competitors with financial flavor, started to unbundle the banks,” commented Casquero. “Banks were doing a lot of things at a single given time and they found themselves competing with small, fast and flexible companies which were optimized in terms of flow, resources, business models and technology.”

JPMorgan and many other financial institutions know that it is difficult to compete against new fintech companies. Some months ago, JPMorgan and Bank of America communicated to their investors and clients that if they do not invest in new technologies, they would lose an important part of the market.

The plans to improve the Quorum platform and expand it to other institutions is related to this situation.

 

Carlos is an international relations’ analyst specializing in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Since 2017, Carlos has written extensively for UseTheBitcoin and other leading cryptocurrency sites; with over 2,000 articles published.