The latest round of annual financial reports points to rising enthusiasm for blockchain technology amongst Chinese banks.
Annual reports from China CITIC Bank, China Construction Bank, China Merchants Bank and Ping An Bank point to broad efforts to apply blockchain technology to a range of areas.
Last year China Merchants Bank joined the Chinese central bank in the establishment of a trade finance blockchain platform covering the Great Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau (粵港澳大湾区贸易金融区块链平台).
China Merchants Bank also teamed up with leading companies in the Chinese construction sector to create a blockchain-based Industrial Internet coordination platform (基于区块链的产业互联网协作平台), to facilitate concentrated procurement and supply-chain financing services for group members.
According to the bank’s annual report it launched a total of 931 fintech innovation projects in 2018, of which 304 have already commenced operation.
Last year big four state-owned lender China Construction Bank applied blockchain technology to a variety of areas including trade finance, home leasing, pharmaceuticals regulation, targeted poverty relief and agricultural product tracing.
China Construction Bank led the launch of a blockchain-based trade finance platform to facilitate the online processing of letters of credit, forfaiting, international factoring.
The platform currently enjoys the participation of nearly 40 domestic and overseas institutions, and had processed transactions worth over 200 billion yuan as of the end of 2018.
China CITIC Bank said in its annual report that it had successfully launched the country’s first blockchain-based forfaiting transaction system, which has facilitated transactions worth in excess 10 billion yuan.
CITIC claims to be responsible for the the first “blockchain + supply chain” trial in China, using blockchain technology to create a new “open and cooperative supply chain ecosystem.”
Ping An Bank is also using the blockchain in tandem with the Internet of Things and cloud computing to create a “smart supply chain financing system.
The bank has launched a Supply Chain Accounts Receivable Services (SAS) platform that permits a broad range of financial services in relation to accounts receivable, including transfer, management and settlement.
Ping An Bank said that in future it further innovative its SAS platform, and strive to resolve problems encountered by supply chain private enterprises and small and micro-enterprises with regard to accounts receivable financing.
The “Financial Blockchain Research Report” (金融区块链研究报告) released by the
