Qatar’s Commercial Bank has completed the initial pilot phase for making international fund transfers with the use of blockchain network.

The bank carried out the pilot in collaboration with ABank in Turkey, National Bank of Oman, and United Arab Bank in the UAE, as well as other banks in Egypt and India.

The blockchain network was created with the help of a cloud-based ledger technology. Commercial Bank said that the network improves security, accuracy and speed of transactions as well as facilitates real-time fund transfers at a low cost by phasing out the requirement of intermediaries.

The second phase of the project will focus on carrying out trade finance transactions on the blockchain network.

“All trade finance transactions will be paperless on the blockchain network, simplifying the process of exchanging purchase orders and invoices by eliminating lengthy international paper trails and verification through trade intermediaries,” the bank stated.

Commercial Bank CEO Joseph Abraham said: “Commercial Bank is renowned for bringing to market leading technologies  in Qatar’s banking industry and this blockchain pilot project for international remittances represents another ‘first to market’ digital innovation by Commercial Bank.

“Blockchain has huge potential to change the financial services sector and we are proud to be the pioneers in leading this change in Qatar by introducing yet another new technology to provide the best client experience for all our customers.”