BNY Mellon Aims to Go Live 'ASAP' on Trade Finance Blockchain Marco Polo

Bank of New York Mellon has joined the Marco Polo trade finance consortium running on R3's Corda, becoming the 28th bank to do so.

The $373-billion asset bank is evaluating Marco Polo's technology with the intention of onboarding clients if the network's capabilities fit clients' interests, said Joon Kim, global head of trade finance at BNY Mellon.

Kim wouldn't reveal how many corporate and bank clients are receiving trade services from the bank, but said that BNY Mellon works with 1,400 financial institutions in total.

For banks around the globe that want to create their own trade operations but don't want the hassle of developing a new division, BNY Mellon offers white-labeled trading services.

In September of this year, the bank announced at the annual Sibos conference that it had expanded its trade services with KeyBank, a U.S. regional bank with $416 billion in assets.

Trade finance is a "Critical" part of BNY Mellon's transaction banking business, which also consists of payments and liquidity products, Kim said.

BNY Mellon chose Marco Polo because the blockchain works well for open account financing, which makes up around 85 percent of trade finance, and works well for large corporates, Kim said.

Among the other blockchain trade finance consortiums that Kim said BNY looked at but didn't serve the bank's needs, Voltron is designed around letters of credit, and we.

Founded by blockchain companies R3 and TradeIX, Marco Polo aims to create real-time settlements and transparency in trading relationships.

In April, BNY Mellon began digital asset safekeeping by providing private key storage for bitcoin futures exchange Bakkt.