R3, Barclays, RBS and others trial blockchain for faster property transactions

A number of leading banks, real estate companies, and law firms, among others, have successfully completed a global blockchain trial that aimed to demonstrate the technology’s potential to accelerate property transactions.

A total of 40 companies including the likes of Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, and Clifford Chance participated in the trial which was facilitated by blockchain startup R3, Bloomberg reported.

In a press release dated April 04, Instant Property Network (IPN), a property transaction network backed by R3, said that the trial ran end-to-end transactions using test data through a new distributed ledger to simulate property sales over a five day period.

The trial demonstrated how duplications and costly reconciliation processes could be removed from the buy/sell process. The first transaction took less than an hour to complete, IPN said, adding:

“It is estimated that, with the addition of off ledger business process and consumer decisions, the end to end buy/sell process could be reduced from over three months to less than three weeks. If these efficiencies were applied to the global property market it could equate to an annual saving of approximately $160 billion.”

IPN has developed a system that allows various participants to join up their business processes and transact directly. It helps address various shortcomings associated with the conventional paper and email-based processes such as delays in transactions, errors, increased costs and uncertainty for all parties.

The system does not store data, meaning that each party retains control over their own data. Moreover, it has the ability to integrate with a company’s existing technology.

“The IPN network will allow organisations to build their own applications which should vastly improve the customer experience. Eventually, we believe it will enable the tokenisation of property which will fundamentally change how property works as an asset,” John Reynolds, Founder and CEO of Instant Property Network, said.

The trial revealed that most companies will be able to deploy the platform in a matter of days, the release said.

IPN is currently working towards forming a consortium of some trial participants as well as new firms – both private and public sector organizations – to develop and launch its platform. It aims to release the next version of its platform in September.

“We have been actively participating with the Instant Property Network and are excited with the possibility of significantly reducing the home buying process and removing much of the stress that comes with buying new home,” Hannah Bernard, Head of Barclays Mortgages, said.