Thailand’s Largest Commercial Bank and State Oil Company Trial Blockchain Payments

Thailand’s largest commercial bank, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), and state oil company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) performed a successful test of blockchain use for cross-border business-to-business payments. The bank recently announced the successful pilot on its website.

Per the announcement, the project, which has been ongoing since mid-2018, aims to optimize operational efficiency. The bank claims that earlier this year, it has successfully carried out payments on blockchain within one minute.

The post also points out that conventional methods require a wait of one to two days for the settlement to be carried out. SCB SEVP and chief wholesale banking officer Wasin Saiyawan claimed that the bank is now ready “to set a new norm for the industry” and declared:

“The service will be implemented in all CLMV and southeast Asian countries by this year, which will serve as a major milestone in the development of cross-border payment services.”

PTTEP Finance and Accounting Group executive vice president Sumrid Sumneing also noted that the collaboration with SCB to use blockchain technology will be ongoing. While the announcement doesn’t cite Ripple or XRP, the company is reportedly part of the Ripplenet payment network.

Furthermore, in September last year, Ripple also announced that the bank pioneered RippleNet’s multi-hop feature. Multi-hop reportedly allows settling payments on behalf of other financial institutions present on the network.

Crunchbase defines SCP as Thailand’s first indigenous bank, and notes that as of June 30, 2016, it was the country’s largest commercial bank, with its annual revenue estimated to be $2.9 billion. Crunchbase also estimates the revenue of PTTEP’s parent company PTT to be $60.5 billion annually.

As Cointelegraph reported yesterday, French specialized credit institution Societe Generale SFH issued a 100 million euro ($112 million) bond as a security token on the ethereum (ETH) blockchain.

Recently, the head of digital market assets at Credit Suisse, Emmanuel Aidoo, said that the desire among financiers to maintain the status quo is holding back the adoption of blockchain technology.