SWIFT announced that they will be working with Singapore Exchange (SGX) along with Deutsche Bank, DBS, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank to work on a proof-of-concept on e-voting using blockchain.

The trial will explore whether blockchain can help simplify the currently inefficient management of shareholder meetings and the associated voting processes that are often time-consuming and resource intensive.

Proxy voting in particular often results in avoidable complexity and errors that could be eliminated through greater transparency and automation.

SWIFT will facilitate the proof-of-concept in its blockchain sandbox testing environment with Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank joining as participants, and DBS and SGX joining as both participants and issuers.

The participants will reuse the SWIFT network and their existing SWIFT infrastructure and interfaces to access, test and validate the applicability of blockchain.

The trial win run during the first half of 2019 and will be run on a permissioned private blockchain. It is also set out to demonstrate the viability of hybrid solutions based on ISO 20022 d DLT to foster interoperability and avoid market fragmentation.