IBM Corp. said today it has teamed with foreign exchange services provider CLS Group Inc. and a number of banks to unveil a new proof-of-concept blockchain platform for the financial services industry.

Called LedgerConnect, the blockchain platform has been designed for financial services providers, including banks, financial technology companies and software firms, to deploy, share and consume services hosted on a shared distributed ledger network.

A private blockchain as opposed to a public one, LedgerConnect nonetheless is focused on applying the technology behind bitcoin to a range of financial industry transactions including know-your-customer processes, sanctions screening, collateral management, derivatives post-trade processing and reconciliation and market data.

“By hosting these services on a single, enterprise-grade network, organizations can focus on business objectives rather than application development, enabling them to realize operational efficiencies and cost savings across asset classes,” IBM said in a media release.

IBM is pitching LedgerConnect as a way to overcome the costs involved with individual blockchain implementations by providing a single shared and highly secured network on which multiple services can be deployed and consumed. That, the company said, will allow “financial institutions to focus on transforming business processes rather than creating multiple new blockchain applications.”

Nine financial institutions are said to have signed up to a trial of the service, including Barclays plc and Citigroup Inc. with support from vendors including Baton Systems Inc., Calypso Technology Inc., Copp Clark Ltd., MPhasis Ltd., OpenRisk Technologies LLC, SynSwap Ltd., Persistent Systems  Ltd. and naturally IBM itself.

“Building on the success of CLSNet and leveraging the strong relationship CLS has with the world’s leading financial institutions, LedgerConnect is uniquely positioned as a blockchain marketplace for the financial services industry, which will accelerate innovation across the ecosystem with value added services for blockchain networks,” noted Marie Wieck, general manager for IBM Blockchain.

IBM has been all-in on developing blockchain platforms for a number of years as the fledgling market continues to expand, particularly with financial solutions such as its cross-border blockchain payments solution. The focus on next-generation technology is starting to pay off for Big Blue, with IBM turning the corner by sustaining revenue growth for the third successive quarter.

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