Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), the third largest bank by assets in Japan, is set to begin utilizing R3’s Marco Polo trade finance blockchain on a commercial basis by the end of the year.
Marco Polo, which utilizes open-source Corda, is a network backed by Dublin-based TradeIX and New York-based R3 LLC. It counts a number of major financial institutions as its members, including Bangkok Bank, Mitsui & Co, SMBC, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Mastercard, Standard Chartered, among others.
The network recently completed tests for trade finance transactions between Russia and Germany.