Credit Suisse and ING execute DLT-based securities lending and contract exchange
Credit Suisse and ING have executed a live collateral swap with full legal exchange of contracts and settlement taking place over R3’s Corda blockchain platform.
For the pilot transaction, the two banks swapped baskets of securities of value EUR25 million using a Corda-based collateral lending application developed by HQLAx
Credit Suisse and ING agreed to transfer legal ownership of Dutch and German government securities on the platform using HQLAx Digital Collateral Records (DCRs) while the underlying securities remained static within unique DCR-linked custody accounts held by Credit Suisse and ING at Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd. Law firm Clifford Chance advised the partners on the contractual and legal implications of conducting such a transaction.
In a traditional settlement of a securities lending transaction, individual underlying securities are transferred between accounts. However, the intent of the operating model for the HQLAX collateral lending application is to achieve a legal title transfer of baskets of securities through the transfer of ownership of the unique DCR-linked accounts themselves.
The live test run follows a successful proof-of-concept of the CorDapp concept in April last year with an expanded pool of banks, including CIBC, Commerzbank and UBS.
Ivar Wiersma, head of wholesale banking innovation at ING, comments: “With this strong group of participants, together with ING’s technical contribution, I’m confident about the path to production of the HQLAx platform.”
