Russians Announce RUB 750m Bond Placement with Blockchain
Russia’s central securities depository, largest bank, and leading telecommunications operator have implemented blockchain for a commercial bond placement
The case of the full life cycle of a security in the form of a set of smart contracts (from placement to the full performance of the issuer’s obligations to investors) has been successfully implemented.
Russia’s central securities depository, Russia’s largest bank, and Russia’s leading telecommunications operator have successfully implemented blockchain for a commercial bond placement organized by Sberbank‘s corporate investment business (CIB). The nominal value of MTS’ commercial bond issue – RUB 750 million – has been redeemed.
National Settlement Depository (NSD) provided its own blockchain platform based on Hyperledger Fabric 1.1. to conduct the transaction. The issuer, the CSD, and an investor were granted access to the decentralized platform in order to perform the transaction.
Eddie Astanin, Chairman of the Executive Board, NSD, said:
“NSD has already implemented a few successful cases based on blockchain, including the first IPO in the Bank of Russia’s regulatory sandbox, as well as the joint issuance of securities with the largest financial market players. We see that the technology is in demand. It has some advantages, and we will proactively develop it by creating infrastructure to record digital assets; the presence of such infrastructure is a crucial condition for attracting institutional investors to our market, as well as for the market’s dynamic development and the growth of its capitalization.”
Andrei Shemetov, Vice President of Sberbank, Head of the Global Markets Department of Sberbank CIB, commented:
“Blockchain may change the world the way Internet changed it. This technology is very important for the banking sector, because it allows for a cost reduction, a dramatic increase in the speed and safety of transactions, and provides an unprecedented level of trust and transparency in any transactions. I am sure that our joint blockchain project with NSD and MTS is just the beginning, and in the next 5-10 years, blockchain-based products and services, including smart contracts on the basis of blockchain, will become a standard thing.”
Reporting by Rick Steves. Filed 23 November 2018, 18:45 GMT.
Senior Reporter, Regulation and Fintech
Rick Steves has seen business and economics through many lenses. He joined the financial services industry in 2009, and has been a financial journalist since 2011.
