The initiative started with a working group with AG Insurance, Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, Euroclear and KBC with the endorsement of other partners of B-Hive (AXA, Baloise, Allianz, ING, SWIFT, Bank of New York Mellon, Isabel Group, MasterCard), for the creation of a blockchain platform to simplify identity management (Know Your Customer - KYC) for corporates.

After a successful delivery of the proof of concept in October 2017, the initiative rapidly triggered interest from financial and non-financial organizations. For that reason, B-Hive together with the four largest Belgian banks—Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING and KBC—decided to hand over the ownership of the initiative to Isabel Group to manage the governance of the platform, set up a pilot with the four banks and facilitate its future growth.

Following an extensive analysis of different parties, norbloc was selected as a technology partner for the pilot phase due to its experience in similar projects with the platform Fides. This KYC platform allows clients to control how and when their data is shared with different institutions and market participants in a way that is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Combining their international business knowledge with a feature-rich and legally compliant KYC platform made them an ideal collaborative partner.

Jean de Crane, CEO Isabel Group, said, “Instead of a time-consuming and often still paper-based onboarding process, this KYC platform will provide a unified ecosystem for financial organizations and others to onboard clients and legal entities in particular. We will be able to offer one unique KYC file across institutions, reducing duplication of efforts in financial entities and their clients alike. Furthermore, individuals will be able to control how and when their data is shared through a customer-oriented portal, which respects the oncoming GDPR.”

Astyanax Kanakakis, CEO of norbloc, said, “I’m confident that the Fides platform will create great operational and regulatory efficiencies to all participants and we are excited to be working with Isabel Group and four of the leading banks in Belgium on such an ambitious endeavor.”

Wim De Waele, CEO of B-Hive, said, “After nurturing the initiative from idea to proof of concept, we are thrilled that our partners selected a member of B-Hive, norbloc, and we look forward to Isabel Group and the banks launching the pilot. We will continue to support them in the process wherever we can, and are eager to see how we can continue to create bridges across the wider community.”