Singapore financial technology company Hashstacs (STACS) has teamed up Swiss private bank EFG Bank to develop a blockchain platform aimed at enhancing and simplifying the processes of structured products.
Project Nathan – Smart Structured Products is using distributed ledger technology (DLT) to automate and manage the entire lifecycle of a structured product, STACS said in a statement. The platform consists of the underlying STACS blockchain and smart contracts, and a business application with an intuitive user interface.
On March 2 2020, the platform received the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Financial Sector Technology and Innovation – Proof of Concept grant, which provides funding support for experimentation, development and dissemination of nascent innovative technologies in the financial services sector.
In the first phase of Project Nathan, STACS worked with EFG to remodel the workflows involved in a structured product transaction, facilitated the internal efficiencies between various EFG departments involved in such transactions, and looked at the use of smart contracts to automate aspects of trade inception and trade servicing.
Workflow processes that are normally done manually, such as the reconciliation of structured product trades and fixings, are now enhanced and simplified on the Nathan platform. As a result, EFG has reported a significant reduction in manhours and operational risks, and an increase in efficiency of more than 50%, according to the statement.
The platform has also given the bank the capability to increase servicing capacity by close to 300%. Starting with FX Accumulators, the solution will be scaled up to include other types of structured products in future.
STACS managing director Benjamin Soh says Project Nathan will proceed with further phases of commercialization and expand the digitalization initiatives to the wider industry.
