IBM Working With UnionBank for Blockchain-based Supply Chain Finance Solution

February 6, 2019: The Philippines IBM is teaming up with UnionBank in building a blockchain-based solution for reinventing supply chain finance.

Announced on IBM’s blog, the cloud-based application is set to transform finance transactions through a permission digital ledger – the “IBM Blockchain Platform”. This solution will be available to all of UnionBank’s customers and partners that want to join the blockchain network.

Being on the same blockchain network, everyone involved in a transaction can see and act on the same ledger. Each member can only update their part of the process. This, IBM said, will ensure “efficiency, consistency, trust, and transparency, while safeguarding sensitive information”.

Both IBM and UnionBank have been leveraging the use of blockchain to improve and build new businesses. IBM in the Philippines currently works with clients to find out which of their processes can leverage the use of blockchain technology. (Read More: SyncFab CEO: Blockchain Can Revolutionize the Supply Chain)

“The solution running on the IBM Blockchain Platform can enable organizations like UnionBank to access transactions recorded on a shared ledger in near real-time, enabling them to develop and offer new products to small and mid-sized enterprises.”

IBM is also committed to increasing blockchain talent in the country. Last month, it unveiled “P-Tech” (Pathways in Technology Early College High), a tech education program that aims to prepare students for “new collar jobs”, which are tech-based jobs that are expected to be in demand in the future. IBM Asia Pacific CEO said 500,000 tech jobs will be generated in the Philippines by 2022. “We need to start work today ensure our workforce has the right skills for these jobs,” he said in a statement. (Read More: [Infographic] Blockchain Identified as Top Emerging Trend in the Philippines)

The P-TECH Program is piloted at the University of Taguig in partnership with the city government.

UnionBank of the Philippines is at the forefront of leveraging blockchain and others like AI to improve its businesses. A founding member of the blockchain association of the Philippines, it is an early partner to pilot Kaleido, an ethereum-based blockchain that the bank used for its Project i2i – whose aim is to connect rural banks together using the blockchain. The bank also recently opened a blockchain institute to teach developers how to build and blockchain and examine and build actual use cases and solutions.

This article is first published at BitPinas on February 6, 2019: IBM Working With UnionBank for Blockchain-based Supply Chain Finance Solution