Eric G. Krause, Vivek K. Velamuri

• An increasing number of banks are realizing the urgency of the blockchain technology and are exploring ways of using it. Drawing from a broad range of statements from experts from both Infosys Consulting and institutions from various sectors of the industry, the new white paper provides a high-level business-case viewpoint on the potentials and limitations of the blockchain technology for various areas of the financial services industry._x000D_ Key findings include:_x000D_ Blockchain may decrease costs, increase security, transparency and efficiency in various financial markets. Most promising use cases were identiifed in cross-border payment transactions, trade finance and in the Over the Counter (OTC) market; Trusted third parties and clearing houses could face strong competition due to the advantages of distributed ledgers over existing centralised ones; Despite a lack of regulation, blockchain will become widespread in financial services in the next 5-10 years with 47 per cent of financial institutions evaluating it; Collaboration between banks and the fintech sector is essential for improving and popularising blockchain .