For the pilot transaction, the two banks swapped baskets of securities of value EUR25 million using a Corda-based collateral lending application developed by HQLAx

Credit Suisse and ING agreed to transfer legal ownership of Dutch and German government securities on the platform using HQLAx Digital Collateral Records (DCRs) while the underlying securities remained static within unique DCR-linked custody accounts held by Credit Suisse and ING at Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd. Law firm Clifford Chance advised the partners on the contractual and legal implications of conducting such a transaction.

In a traditional settlement of a securities lending transaction, individual underlying securities are transferred between accounts. However, the intent of the operating model for the HQLAX collateral lending application is to achieve a legal title transfer of baskets of securities through the transfer of ownership of the unique DCR-linked accounts themselves.

The live test run follows a successful proof-of-concept of the CorDapp concept in April last year with an expanded pool of banks, including CIBC, Commerzbank and UBS.

Ivar Wiersma, head of wholesale banking innovation at ING, comments: “With this strong group of participants, together with ING’s technical contribution, I’m confident about the path to production of the HQLAx platform.”

Separately HSBC has announced that it is ready to take a blockchain-based trade finance application into live production following 18 months of testing. Senior innovation manager, Joshua Kroeker, told reporters during a media call: “Going from that PoC in 2016, we’re at the tipping point of getting our customers involved in live transactions in the coming weeks and months. The technology has come a long way. We’re much more comfortable with its security and scalability.”