Axis Bank and JPMorgan Partner to Enhance Blockchain-based Payments

JPMorgan and Axis Bank have partnered to enhance blockchain-based payments, introducing 24/7 programmable USD clearing for commercial clients. This collaboration  aims to streamline cross-border transactions, offering real-time payment execution and improved liquidity management.

A 24/7 programmable USD clearing is a blockchain-based payment system that allows businesses to settle USD transactions in real time, anytime, without being restricted by traditional banking hours. This system is powered by Kinexys, JPMorgan's blockchain platform, and has been adopted by Axis Bank, making it the first Indian bank to offer this capability.

Traditional payments often involve multiple intermediaries, leading to delays. Blockchain enables real-time settlements, significantly reducing processing times from days to minutes.

The Axis–JPMorgan partnership leverages Kinexys, JPMorgan's blockchain platform, to streamline cross-border transactions, offering real-time payment execution and improved liquidity management. Axis Bank is the first Indian bank to adopt this infrastructure, operating out of GIFT City, India's international financial hub.

The Kinexys platform has already processed over $1.5 trillion in transaction volume, with a daily average exceeding $2 billion, reflecting a 10x year-over-year growth in payment transactions.

This move aligns with India's broader push for financial innovation, integrating blockchain into mainstream banking. This could be a game-changer for businesses seeking faster, more transparent payments.

To recall, in early of last month Axis Bank become the first Indian bank to execute an aircraft financing transaction through its International Banking Unit (IBU) at GIFT City IFSC. The landmark deal was completed for AI Fleet Services Ltd (AIFS), the leasing arm and wholly owned subsidiary of Air India (a Tata Group Company).

In January 2022, Axis Bank executed India’s first domestic trade transaction on the Secured Logistics Document Exchange (SLDE), a Government of India-backed blockchain platform. This initiative enhances transparency, speed, and auditability in trade finance.

Notably, Axis Bank is part of a 15-bank consortium exploring blockchain solutions for trade finance, aiming to reduce fraud and improve transaction efficiency.

Goldman Sachs is Exploring Creating its Own Cryptocurrency

American multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs is exploring creating its own cryptocurrency, revealed Mathew McDermott, who is a Goldman Sachs' newly appointed head of digital assets and a managing director who ran the investment bank’s internal funding operations.

CNBC reported that, at Goldman Sachs, McDermott, the newly appointed head of digital assets is expanding his team, doubling its headcount with hires in Asia and Europe.

One Goldman project involves collaboration with JPMorgan, potentially regarding how the two banks’ nascent technology efforts could work together.

said McDermott

“In the next five to 10 years, you could see a financial system where all assets and liabilities are native to a blockchain, with all transactions natively happening on chain,” said the new digital assets head.

The company also indicated a possible collaboration with other companies, including JPMorgan and Facebook. JPMorgan has created the JPM coin and Facebook has proposed the Libra cryptocurrency project.

Goldman Sachs is reportedly hiring JPMorgan Chase’s head of digital assets strategy - Oli Harris, who was involved in JP Morgan’s cryptocurrency, the JPM coin, and was also a vice president in charge of Quorum, the ethereum-based blockchain platform that underpins the JPM coin.

It is speculated that Goldman's sudden move to cryptocurrency love is result of the recent research which revealed that Wall Street giants are increasingly moving even larger transfers of bitcoin and cryptocurrency as institutional investors in North America pile into bitcoin and cryptocurrency and the trend thought to be rise further.

India's ICICI Bank Joins JP Morgan's Blockchain-based Payment Project

Last week, J.P. Morgan had announced the expansion of its blockchain-based payment project called Interbank Information Network (IIN), the first live blockchain service offered by the firm. More than 75 banks have signed up to be part of IIN, the largest number of banks to join a live application of blockchain technology.

Among 75 banks that signed up for IIN, 21 are from Asia-Pacific region and India's ICICI Bank Limited is one of them and only bank from India to have joined JPMorgan's proprietary blockchain platform.

Earlier in 2016, ICICI Bank had successfully executed transaction in international trade finance and remittances by making use of blockchain technology in partnership with Emirates NBD, a famous Dubai based bank. Notably, it was India’s first banking transactions on blockchain.

Launched as a pilot in 2017, IIN is powered by Quorum, a permissioned (closed ecosystem) variant of the Ethereum blockchain, developed by J.P. Morgan. Quorum’s focus on privacy enables secure data sharing via IIN.

We saw tremendous interest among correspondent banks after the pilot launched in 2017, asking if they could join,” said Emma Loftus, Head of Global Payments and Receivables, J.P. Morgan Treasury Services. “We believe IIN will significantly improve the efficiency of cross-border payments, particularly as more banks participate and we evolve the functionality and use cases beyond compliance-related inquiries.”

The expanded network of banks will facilitate global cross-border payments in every major market, including Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Quorum, which is an enterprise-focused version of Ethereum, is ideal for any application requiring high speed and high throughput processing of private transactions within a permissioned group of known participants.

With Quorum, IIN minimizes friction in the global payments process, enabling payments to reach beneficiaries faster and with fewer steps. Using blockchain technology, IIN reduces the time correspondent banks currently spend responding to compliance and other data-related inquiries that delay payments.

It competes with legacy platforms such as SWIFT and new startups like Ripple. Notably, SWIFT itself is testing its own blockchain-based solution and had successfully tested initial sandbox trials of blockchain-based proof of concept, in March this year.

Back in March, JP Morgan was considering making the Quorum platform a separate company, though retaining a stake in the venture, in order to drive its adoption to wider markets. It appears that this has yet to happen.

J.P. Morgan, CIIE-IIMA To Launch $9.5 Mn Financial Inclusion Lab in India for Fintech Startups in Early-Stage

Global banking and financial services provider J.P. Morgan has collaboated with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) affiliated Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) to set up a Financial Inclusion Lab (FIL) that will focus on early-stage fintech startups with innovations that address the unique needs of the lower and middle income (LMI) segment.

Under this US$9.5 million FIL initiative, J.P. Morgan has committed $7 million over the next four years while rest will be borne by IIM-A's CIIE. The initiative is aimed at identifying and bringing to scale early-stage fintech start-ups that are focused on helping people in India within the lower and middle income (LMI) segment who earn US$2-US$10 a day. The start-ups will enable access and usage of appropriate financial products and services such as savings, credit and insurance for LMI households.

The Lab is part of IIMA-CIIE’s Bharat Inclusion Initiative (BII), a program launched in May that aims to incubate and support start-ups that are focused on developing technologies that can be used for the benefit of underserved communities in the areas of livelihoods, financial inclusion, health and education. J.P. Morgan will provide up to US$7 million over the next four years towards this initiative. This would be the largest philanthropic commitment made by J.P. Morgan outside of the U.S. Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are also supporting the Lab as part of their overall commitment to BII.

The Lab will draw insights and learnings from the work performed by the JPMorgan Chase-funded Financial Solutions Lab, a five-year program launched in the U.S. in 2014 and managed by the Center for Financial Services Innovation. Over the past four years, this initiative has supported the development and scaling of fintech solutions that have improved the financial wellbeing of underserved communities in the U.S. To date, participating fintechs have reached over 2.5 million Americans and have seen their users grow 20 times since joining the program.

“India’s vision of creating digital technology driven access to financial services will be incomplete unless we bring these offerings to the lower and middle income segments who are in urgent need of these financial products and services. Our initiative aims to identify and nurture fintech start-ups to generate innovative ideas which will help make financial products and services more accessible to this critical mass of Indians. JPMorgan Chase’s Financial Solutions Lab model is being introduced outside of the U.S for the first time. We are pleased to collaborate with CIIE’s Bharat Inclusion Initiative to help establish it in India,” said Kalpana Morparia, CEO, South and South East Asia, J.P. Morgan.

The initiative will also glean insights from international financial inclusion consulting firm MicroSave and CIIE on where and how fintechs can help the LMI segment. Recent research conducted by CIIE and MicroSave revealed that LMI households have erratic financial inflows and many in the LMI segment struggle to adopt digital platforms for their financial needs. “Over 80 per cent of the addressable LMI market, or 470 million people, are not integrated into the economic mainstream. Early stage fintechs, when provided with the right mentoring, insights and capital support, can have a huge and positive impact on the lives of many people,” said Anil Gupta, Associate Director, MicroSave.

The Lab will host a series of accelerator programs to identify solutions for specific financial challenges, and leading ideas will be supported with start-up capital, market access, technical assistance, mentoring and sector expertise. Fintech entrepreneurs are now being invited to apply to join the Lab.

“The Financial Inclusion Lab is a critical component of the Bharat Inclusion Initiative continuum and will build upon CIIE’s decade long experience of running incubators, accelerators and impact funds to provide inclusion focused tech entrepreneurs the comprehensive support required to turbocharge their journeys. We are excited to partner with J.P. Morgan to create access and opportunity for more people to join the financial mainstream by unlocking entrepreneurial energy,” said Priyanka Chopra, COO, CIIE.

Last month, CIIE has made the first close of $150 million Bharat Innovations Fund, which was a href="http://indianweb2/2016/07/08/iim-incubators-plans-raise-150m-bharat-innovations-fund-invests-clean-tech-startups/">announced in July 2016.

In May 2018, the BII announced support from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Omidyar Network towards backing start-ups leveraging the ongoing digital transformation in India to create access to services that were hitherto inaccessible for a large segment of Indians.

Additionally, in an another welcome move of a foreign nation towards Indian startups, Bahrain is also welcoming startups and venture capitalists from India to access it's startup ecosystem. Bahrains Economic Development Board has already set up its office in Mumbai to accelerate its fintech development program and even launched a new fintech fund to invest in Indian startups that have an economic interest in Bahrain.

Source - Business Wire India

J.P. Morgan, CIIE-IIMA To Launch $9.5 Mn Financial Inclusion Lab in India for Fintech Startups in Early-Stage

Global banking and financial services provider J.P. Morgan has collaboated with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) affiliated Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) to set up a Financial Inclusion Lab (FIL) that will focus on early-stage fintech startups with innovations that address the unique needs of the lower and middle income (LMI) segment.

Under this US$9.5 million FIL initiative, J.P. Morgan has committed $7 million over the next four years while rest will be borne by IIM-A's CIIE. The initiative is aimed at identifying and bringing to scale early-stage fintech start-ups that are focused on helping people in India within the lower and middle income (LMI) segment who earn US$2-US$10 a day. The start-ups will enable access and usage of appropriate financial products and services such as savings, credit and insurance for LMI households.

The Lab is part of IIMA-CIIE’s Bharat Inclusion Initiative (BII), a program launched in May that aims to incubate and support start-ups that are focused on developing technologies that can be used for the benefit of underserved communities in the areas of livelihoods, financial inclusion, health and education. J.P. Morgan will provide up to US$7 million over the next four years towards this initiative. This would be the largest philanthropic commitment made by J.P. Morgan outside of the U.S. Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are also supporting the Lab as part of their overall commitment to BII.

The Lab will draw insights and learnings from the work performed by the JPMorgan Chase-funded Financial Solutions Lab, a five-year program launched in the U.S. in 2014 and managed by the Center for Financial Services Innovation. Over the past four years, this initiative has supported the development and scaling of fintech solutions that have improved the financial wellbeing of underserved communities in the U.S. To date, participating fintechs have reached over 2.5 million Americans and have seen their users grow 20 times since joining the program.

“India’s vision of creating digital technology driven access to financial services will be incomplete unless we bring these offerings to the lower and middle income segments who are in urgent need of these financial products and services. Our initiative aims to identify and nurture fintech start-ups to generate innovative ideas which will help make financial products and services more accessible to this critical mass of Indians. JPMorgan Chase’s Financial Solutions Lab model is being introduced outside of the U.S for the first time. We are pleased to collaborate with CIIE’s Bharat Inclusion Initiative to help establish it in India,” said Kalpana Morparia, CEO, South and South East Asia, J.P. Morgan.

The initiative will also glean insights from international financial inclusion consulting firm MicroSave and CIIE on where and how fintechs can help the LMI segment. Recent research conducted by CIIE and MicroSave revealed that LMI households have erratic financial inflows and many in the LMI segment struggle to adopt digital platforms for their financial needs. “Over 80 per cent of the addressable LMI market, or 470 million people, are not integrated into the economic mainstream. Early stage fintechs, when provided with the right mentoring, insights and capital support, can have a huge and positive impact on the lives of many people,” said Anil Gupta, Associate Director, MicroSave.

The Lab will host a series of accelerator programs to identify solutions for specific financial challenges, and leading ideas will be supported with start-up capital, market access, technical assistance, mentoring and sector expertise. Fintech entrepreneurs are now being invited to apply to join the Lab.

“The Financial Inclusion Lab is a critical component of the Bharat Inclusion Initiative continuum and will build upon CIIE’s decade long experience of running incubators, accelerators and impact funds to provide inclusion focused tech entrepreneurs the comprehensive support required to turbocharge their journeys. We are excited to partner with J.P. Morgan to create access and opportunity for more people to join the financial mainstream by unlocking entrepreneurial energy,” said Priyanka Chopra, COO, CIIE.

Last month, CIIE has made the first close of $150 million Bharat Innovations Fund, which was a href="https://www.indianweb2.com/2016/07/08/iim-incubators-plans-raise-150m-bharat-innovations-fund-invests-clean-tech-startups/">announced in July 2016.

In May 2018, the BII announced support from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Omidyar Network towards backing start-ups leveraging the ongoing digital transformation in India to create access to services that were hitherto inaccessible for a large segment of Indians.

Additionally, in an another welcome move of a foreign nation towards Indian startups, Bahrain is also welcoming startups and venture capitalists from India to access it's startup ecosystem. Bahrains Economic Development Board has already set up its office in Mumbai to accelerate its fintech development program and even launched a new fintech fund to invest in Indian startups that have an economic interest in Bahrain.

Source - Business Wire India

Bitcoin is A Fraud That Will Eventually Blow Up, Warns JP Morgan Boss

Bitcoin, which currently is the most popular cryptocurrency in the world, isn't much popular with JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon. According to the head of the leading global financial services firm and one of the largest banking institutions in the United States, Bitcoin is actually a fraud that will ultimately blow up. 

Speaking at a conference in New York, he further added, that the digital currency is only meant to be used by drug dealers, murderers and people living in places such as North Korea.

It was in mid 2008 that bitcoin first came into our lives. Ever since its debut, a lot has been said about the digital currency that can be traded for services or goods with sellers who accept bitcoins as payment. Even though some consider bitcoin as one of the most volatile currencies in the world, it still continues to do more than 100,000 transactions per day. According to experts, this figure is only going to ballon up in the near future with the massive innovation being fed into the field, courtesy bitcoin’s underlying technology, the blockchain

However, Dimon doesn't want to do anything with anyone that makes use of the digital currency. According to him, he would take just a second to fire anyone found using bitcoin at his investment bank "For two reasons: it’s against our rules, and they’re stupid. And both are dangerous.”

For the uninitiated, Bitcoin is the first, and currently the biggest digital currency- a decentralised tradable digital asset. The currency is only good enough to be used as a medium of exchange, because of which the currency has witnessed more usage for bad activities like money fraud, terrorism etc. has been more than for legit purposes.

What makes bitcoin such a shiny possession in the big, bad dark world is the fact that there's no central authority, censorship, or regulation hovering over the transactions being made using the digital currency. The best part they find about the currency is that it is almost impossible to trace a bitcoin transaction back to a physical person. It offers them an anonymity that no other currency in the world provides.

Though Dimon doesn't approve of the currency, he does believe that there's a market for it, but it is a limited one. According to him, “If you were in Venezuela or Ecuador or North Korea or a bunch of parts like that, or if you were a drug dealer, a murderer, stuff like that, you are better off doing it in bitcoin than US dollars."

But, Dimon's opinion might not be entirely true. Recently, Lady Mone, co-founder of the underwear brand Ultimo, launched a major property development in Dubai, priced in bitcoins. Launching the project, she said saying that the digital currency is a growing market that cannot be ignored. On the same lines, a London property developer is allowing its tenants to pay their deposits in bitcoin - the first time digital currency is being put to use in residential sector in the UK.

Dimon’s harsh comments on bitcoin came at a time when the UK financial regulator had just issued a warning against a speculative frenzy in initial coin offerings (ICOs), wherein internet startups are being funded by investors using digital currencies such as bitcoin.

However, Yann Quelenn, an analyst at the online bank Swissquote in a statement to The Guardian ensured that bitcoin still has great potential.

According to him, digital currencies can be considered as a new asset class, which is at war with fiat money. Central banks all around the world wanting to preserve their monopoly over money, don't want to fully embrace cyrptocurrencies.

Explaining about Bitcoin still has a lot of potential to explore, Quelenn added that currently, fewer than 0.01 per cent of the world’s population has a bitcoin wallet. If this would reach 1 per cent, the demand for bitcoin would reach insane levels, because there are only 18m bitcoins available.

While the criticism and appreciation of the currency keeps on coming and going, its value has managed to stand the test of time. It has more than quadrupled in value since December last year and hit about $4,700 last month before falling back. It fell by another 5 per cent after Dimon’s comments to below $4,000.