Spanish Bank Group to Develop Blockchain Platform to Identify Clients

Major Spanish banking consortium Niuron announced they are developing a blockchain platform for client digital identification verification, EuropaPress reports Monday, June 18.

The group of banks reportedly plans to create the platform by the end of 2018, with the goal of developing a blockchain technology-based system to identify and record clients when they open an account for the first time.

Niuron believes that the new blockchain platform will improve the speed of operations, reduce fraud, and prevent money laundering. The platform will reportedly benefit clients in that it will decrease the time required for the registration process and provide clients with more control over their personal data.

Once the platform is completed, clients’ data will be shared between different banks and financial institutions. While ostensibly simplifying digital identification, it will also comply with recent EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules and modern security standards.

The Niuron consortium includes Abanca, Bankia, Caixabank, Caixa Ontinyent, Ibercaja, Kutxabank, Liberbank, Unicaja Banco, and Cecabank. According to an Economipedia report based on assets and capitalization, Caixabank was Spain’s third largest bank in 2017. Ibercaja, Kutxabank and Abanca were also included in country’s top 10.

The GDPR legal framework was adopted by the EU on May 25 of this year, and is forecasted to create 75,000 privacy jobs. Fortune’s Global 500 companies are estimated to spend $8 billion in order to ensure compliance with the new regulations. The new framework for data privacy and protection aims to create a uniform data regulation within Europe, and to increase individuals’ control over the use and storage their personal data.