HSBC Seeks Banking Partners In South Korea To Launch Its Voltron Blockchain Platform

The UK-based banking giant HSBC is in the latest crypto news for seeking new banking partners in South Korea – as part of its plans to deploy a blockchain platform named Voltron in the country. According to reports coming from the Korean news outlet The Korea Times today, Voltron is expected to become a platform which connects more of these companies to the blockchain.

In more detail, Voltron acts as the platform that lets companies process and settle their trading invoices through the blockchain technology. It was launched in October 2018 by the blockchain consortium R3 along with eight banks including the names of HSBC, ING and Standard Chartered – and is right now in its pilot stage.

The Innovation Director at HSBC, Joshua Kroeker, believes that the company is moving in a good way with launching Voltron for commercial clients in the near future. Among the other focuses, HSBC also wants to establish close relationships with Korean banks and therefore collaborate on the development of the platform as well as share costs.

According to Kroeker, decentralized systems like these can significantly reduce the time that is required for interbank operations – not to mention their power in facilitating connections. As he told the Korea Times reporters:

“The biggest impact would be time. Time and transparency will help companies better manage their cash flow and working capital. I am here this week to reach out to Korean banks to collaborate on this blockchain platform for letters of credit.”

The Korea Times article also notes that the filing and processing of trading papers normally takes between five and ten days but can also last up to 30 days. The publication notes that a decentralized system like this could help and reduce the time to 24 hours, mostly because of blockchain and its amazing power that lets different parties access data in real time.

Earlier this year, some representatives at HSBC paid special tributes to the blockchain technology, describing it as one with “massive potential to converge the two main ecosystems involved in trade finance – the financial ecosystem (banks and suppliers) and the supply chain ecosystem” with its transparency and instantaneity.