JPMorgan, DBS and Temasek to Create Blockchain-Based Payments Joint Venture

JPMorgan, DBS Bank and Singapore government-owned investment company Temasek are teaming up to create a new blockchain-based joint venture for payments, trade and settlement.

The platform, to be dubbed “Partior,” will seek to disrupt the traditional payments model and the common pain points that come with it, according to an announcement Wednesday.

Partior will look to develop wholesale payment rails based on digitized commercial bank money, allowing instantaneous settlement between financial institutions.

This will help to address the inefficiencies related to multiple validations of payment details by banks and other post-transaction handling and reconciliation activities.

The platform will harness blockchain and smart contracts to enable banks worldwide to conduct real-time cross-border transactions starting with a focus on flows in USD and SGD between the two Singaporean companies and JPMorgan. The platform would then be expanded to other markets and currencies.

JPMorgan has been working for several years on a blockchain-based interbank payments system that boasts over 400 financial institutions including many of the world’s largest banks.

The Wall Street behemoth has stressed its LIINK payments rails and JPM Coin (now rebranded as Onyx) are not meant to compete with the likes of SWIFT. Built on the Ethereum-based Quorum blockchain, JPMorgan is now deepening the networks cross border payments capabilities in the important and crypto-friendly trading hub of Singapore.