SINGAPORE (July 12): IBM is planning to set up a centre for blockchain innovation in Singapore, in joint partnership with Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and other parties in public and private sectors, as well as the academia and SMEs.

“Now with new cloud services that make these technologies more accessible, leaders from all industries are beginning to take note of the resulting profound and disruptive implications in a range of settings including finance, banking, IoT, healthcare, supply chains, manufacturing, technology, government, the legal system, and more,” says Robert Morris, vice president, Global Labs, IBM Research.

For a start, the centre will focus on trade solutions using Blockchain to improve efficiency of multi-party trade finance processes and transactions. These efforts will involve interested parties in the fintech space ranging from global banks to emerging fintech startups.

“Given that technology is a key enabler of financial services, MAS is pleased to continue to work with companies like IBM to promote technology innovation in finance, and encourage the adoption of safe and efficient technology with the financial industry,” says Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer of MAS.

In addition, IBM will be working with PSA to create a trade ecosystem which connects emerging financial technologies with the physical world of global trade and logistics. This will lead to new business models and attract more global trade and finance to Singapore.

“We believe new technologies such as Blockchain have the potential to reinvent multi-party business transactions and that Singapore is the right innovation hub to carry out field trials of such technologies across a variety of uses,” says Tan Chong Meng, Group CEO, PSA International.