HSBC is proposing to shift $20 billion worth of assets to a new blockchain-based custody platform by March. The bank said this will one of the biggest deployments of blockchain by a global bank. The platform, known as Digital Vault, will give investors real-time access to records of securities bought on private markets. The platform will digitize paper-based records of private placements, using blockchain to reduce the time it takes investors to make checks or queries on holdings. Records of so-called private placements are typically held on paper and lack standardization, making access tricky and time-consuming. HSBC currently looks after up to $50 billion worth of the assets. HSBC did not quantify the amount that could be saved for the bank or its clients by the platform. HSBC expects the global value of private placements to hit $7.7 trillion by 2022, a jump of 60% from 5 years earlier. Over the same period, it thinks allocations by asset manager clients will grow to 20% from 9%.
