Itaú Unibanco, Standard Chartered launch blockchain platform for club loans in Latin America

Itaú Unibanco Holding SA, in collaboration with Standard Chartered, has launched a blockchain platform for small syndicated loans, Reuters reported.

The platform is reportedly the first to go live in Latin America for “club loans” – a kind of syndicated loan with a smaller pool of lenders.

For the platform’s trial, Itaú Unibanco raised $100 million in a club loan with Standard Chartered and Wells Fargo & Co. The transaction was executed on R3’s Corda blockchain platform.

Using the blockchain platform, the banks negotiated all the loan terms, but did not transfer the funds, Ricardo Nuno, Itaú’s treasury managing director, said. However, he added that the platform could do so in the future.

Nuno went on to state that Itaú was considering using the platform for client loans. The blockchain platform enabled the banks to cut legal fees and reduce the number of messages exchanged between the parties, usually around 2,000 e-mails, he added.

Germana Cruz, Standard Chartered’s head of financial institutions for Latin America, said the bank may use the trial in Brazil in new deals in Latin America.

Last month, BBVA, in collaboration with two leading banks – BNP Paribas and MUFG, completed a syndicated loan using distributed ledger technology (DLT). BBVA said that the €150 million deal was reached in record speed. It involved arranging and signing the terms of a syndicated loan for Red Electrica Corporation using BBVA’s proprietary blockchain platform.