The structure of transactions is not The Federated Ledger is a hybrid of both For corporates these developments changed by the addition of blockchain, distributed and centralised ledgers. It mean ever simpler and cheaper access to the Ripple technology simply speeds up acts as an integration point across differ- faster, more visible payments. There is the transaction and all counterparties ent networks of the distributed ledgers. also clearly a process of convergence reconcile to single balances on the Rip- But it is still the consortium banking between the larger bank networks, and ple Consensus Ledger. In other words, model that, in both cases, creates the the use of blockchain technology, which the addition of Ripple unites corre- foundation on which the global network will increasingly pit these consortia spondent banks and market makers in is based. against each other and against incum- the same ledger which allows all the bents such as SWIFT. For banks this transaction information to be shared PayCommerce has announced the will create a complicated set of choices between Earthport the banks and the launch of the pilot programme to deliver about technology and partners. For FX market makers. instant payments between the US and treasurers it simply means a wider range India then extended to UK to India later of ever simpler, cheaper and faster pay- In April 2016, Earthport executed the in the fourth quarter. In 2017, the firm ments channels. first cross-border payment transaction plans to roll out additional originating received via distributed ledger for San- and receiving countries including Mex- tander UK, enabling it to become the ico, other GCC countries and South first UK bank to use distributed ledger Africa; followed by Australia in 2018. technology (DLT) for cross-border pay- ments globally. The first phase of testing has been completed and the firm sees 2017 as PayCommerce has developed a different the year in which it rolls out a multi- blockchain model based on its proprie- country real-time, cross-border, account- tary ‘Federated Ledger’ to enable real- to-account service. time, instant payments, clearing and settlement integration for its banking consortium. The Federated Ledger is a hybrid, integrating both distributed and centralised ledgers which enable faster payments across networks via its messag- ing platform. According to the company, this “takes the next step in instant pay- ments by uniting disparate regional and country systems onto PayCommerce’s bank consortium model which is interop- erable with other global systems and net- works to maintain ledger balances across all parties.” www.eurofinance.com TREASURY PERSPECTIVES 2017/2018 // 23