20161212-德勤-Blockchain_and_the_future_of_financial_infrastructure_21页_450kb_450kb

Deloitte: Blockchain and the Future of Financial Infrastructure

Core Content

Deloitte and the World Economic Forum have explored the transformative potential of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), particularly blockchain, in reshaping the financial services industry. While blockchain is often associated with Bitcoin, its applications extend far beyond cryptocurrency, offering a powerful tool to reimagine financial infrastructure. The report outlines nine key use cases across various financial sectors, highlighting how DLT can simplify processes, enhance transparency, and reduce costs.

Main Viewpoints

• DLT simplifies and streamlines financial services by eliminating the need for intermediaries and enabling real-time, automated processes.
• DLT is not a panacea, but one of several technologies (including cognitive computing, robotics, cloud, and AI) that will shape the future of financial infrastructure.
• DLT's benefits depend on the specific business problem and jurisdiction, and its implementation requires significant industry collaboration and regulatory alignment.
• DLT can enhance trust and compliance through immutable records, smart contracts, and shared data repositories.
• The future of financial services will be more transparent, efficient, and automated, with DLT playing a central role in enabling these changes.

Key Use Cases and Their Implications

1. Global Payments

• Potential: DLT enables real-time settlement, lower fees, and new regulatory models.
• Benefits: Reduces liquidity and operational costs, eliminates correspondent banks, and improves trust through automated reporting.
• Necessary Conditions: KYC standards across institutions, legal frameworks for DLT-based payments, and consensus on DLT platforms.

2. Commercial Property & Casualty Claims Processing

• Potential: DLT automates claims submission, loss assessment, and fraud detection using historical data and smart contracts.
• Benefits: Reduces manual effort, improves fraud detection, and streamlines payment processes.
• Necessary Conditions: Asset profiles on the ledger, data standards among insurers, and legal validation of smart contracts.

3. Syndicated Loans

• Potential: DLT simplifies syndicate formation, due diligence, and loan servicing.
• Benefits: Reduces operational risk and manual work, improves transparency, and allows real-time monitoring.
• Necessary Conditions: Accepted rating systems, interoperability with legacy systems, and willingness to store financial details on DLT.

4. Trade Finance

• Potential: DLT enhances document access, capital efficiency, and settlement speed.
• Benefits: Reduces time to shipment, eliminates intermediaries, and provides trackable asset ownership.
• Necessary Conditions: Transparency to prevent double spending, interoperability with existing trade documents, and regulatory guidance on smart contract reporting.

5. Contingent Convertible Bonds (CoCo Bonds)

• Potential: DLT can automate regulator reporting, capital ratio tracking, and bond conversion.
• Benefits: Increases transparency, reduces reporting costs, and improves investor confidence.
• Necessary Conditions: Standards for capital ratio input, legal validation of smart contracts, and a new rating system.

6. Automated Compliance

• Potential: DLT enables faster, more accurate compliance reporting using immutable data sources.
• Benefits: Simplifies audit trails, reduces manual work, and supports real-time regulatory oversight.
• Necessary Conditions: Access to reliable data sources, legal frameworks for compliance, and interoperability with existing systems.

7. Proxy Voting

• Potential: DLT can streamline proxy voting processes by enabling secure, transparent, and tamper-proof voting records.
• Benefits: Increases efficiency, reduces disputes, and enhances trust in shareholder decisions.
• Necessary Conditions: Legal frameworks for digital voting, standardization of voting protocols, and stakeholder adoption.

8. Asset Rehypothecation

• Potential: DLT provides real-time visibility into asset ownership and provenance, improving decision-making.
• Benefits: Enhances transparency, reduces operational risk, and supports more informed asset management.
• Necessary Conditions: Access to accurate asset data, legal recognition of asset tokens, and regulatory alignment.

9. Equity Post-Trade

• Potential: DLT can automate post-trade processes such as settlement and record-keeping.
• Benefits: Reduces settlement times, improves transparency, and minimizes operational errors.
• Necessary Conditions: Integration with existing trading systems, legal frameworks for tokenized equity, and industry-wide standards.

Conclusion

DLT has the potential to transform the financial services infrastructure by introducing simpler, more efficient, and transparent processes. However, its implementation is complex and requires collaboration among incumbents, innovators, and regulators. While the technology is still in its early stages, its applications are being explored across various financial sectors, and the most promising will shape the future of the industry. DLT is not a silver bullet, but it is a key enabler of a more modern, scalable, and automated financial ecosystem.

End Notes

• DLT's impact will depend on regulatory clarity, legal frameworks, and industry cooperation.
• The future of financial services is likely to be defined by converging technologies, including DLT, AI, and IoT.
• Innovation is ongoing, and the financial sector is expected to evolve significantly in the coming years.

Contacts

• Bob Contri – Global Leader, Financial Services, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited
  Email: bcontri@deloitte.com

• Rob Galaski – Deloitte Leader for The Forum Future of FSI Project
  Email: rgalaski@deloitte.ca