Italian banks adopted blockchain to settle transactions. The Italian Banking Association (ABI) integrated R3's Corda blockchain platform across the sector under the name Spunta, designed to accelerate
Italian banks adopted blockchain to settle transactions. The Italian Banking Association (ABI) integrated R3's Corda blockchain platform across the sector under the name Spunta, designed to accelerate how banks reconcile deals with one another.
When two banks complete a transaction, they must cross-check their records, a standard accounting requirement that takes 30 to 50 days. Discrepancies between the parties can extend the timeline further. Spunta compresses this to 24 hours by automating the detection and flagging of matched and unmatched transactions on a private shared network.
"It removes the pain of reconciling mismatches that used to take days or weeks to resolve," Charley Cooper, an expert at R3, said. "Mismatches can now be spotted and reconciled immediately."
The ABI launched a pilot program in 2018 with 14 banks. Eighty-five percent of Italian banks now use the platform. The initial phase ran ten months and concluded in October 2019. A second phase brought in 55 banks to test the system. The ABI targets October 2020 for full implementation.
Automated reconciliation eliminates human error, accelerates response time, and gives banks full visibility into transactions between institutions. For Italian banks navigating a pandemic-damaged economy, this saves both time and money that the sector can direct elsewhere.
The ABI has elevated blockchain to a strategic priority in recent years, lobbying for a decentralized banking structure. The association is also pushing digital currencies backed by the European Central Bank, a measure designed to build public confidence in crypto while maintaining monetary stability under European regulatory standards.
Governments across the world are advancing along the same lines. China, Japan, and the United States all maintain active blockchain programs and are writing cryptocurrency regulations.
