US banking giant JP Morgan has partnered with Singapore’s largest bank, DBS, and state-owned investment firm Temasek to create a blockchain-based platform for payments, trade, and settlement. The platform has been dubbed ‘Partior’ and it seeks to disrupt the traditional cross-border payments model that has many pain points, such as delayed settlement as a result of drawn-out bureaucratic processes and higher charges. At the core, the Partior platform seeks to digitize money held by commercial banks so as to eliminate bottlenecks experienced during cross-border payments, trade transactions, and foreign exchange settlement.

By digitizing money in commercial banks, Partior will enable instant settlement of payments and practically do away with the current sequential method of settling global payments. DBS Bank CEO, Piyush Gupta, said that Partior is a major revolution compared to the current ‘hub and spoke arrangement’ that has multiple inefficiencies. He added: “By harnessing the benefits of blockchain and smart contracts technology, the Partior platform will address current points of friction. The open platform will enable banks around the world to provide real-time cross-border multi-currency payments, trade finance, foreign exchange, and DVP securities settlements on a world-class platform, with programmability, immutability, traceability built into its suite of services.”

JP Morgan Global Head of Wholesale Payments, Takis Georgakopoulos, highlighted that Partior would be a massive compliment of the products the American bank has made in the blockchain space. “…After five years of being a partner in Project Ubin, we are thrilled by the launch of Partior as it marks yet another milestone for J.P. Morgan and the industry – blockchain-based wholesale payments infrastructure where information and value can change hands around the world in a 24/7, frictionless way.”

Temasek Deputy CEO, Chia Song Hwee, was excited about the possibilities that the joint venture will unlock. He stated that these types of partnerships are vital in prompting fundamental changes. Hwee also went on to say that the core focus should be on finding the right approach to payments transformation by using the latest and new technologies should be a priority. He explained that this transition would enable the company to take its existing infrastructure into the next stage of connectivity and digitalization.

The initial focus of Partior will be in Singapore, with settlement done either in USD or SGD. But the eventual plan is to expand to various other jurisdictions and incorporate numerous other currencies. It is expected that trials for the platform will begin in the second half of 2021. Partior will, of course, require regulatory approval before launch. Interestingly, no bottlenecks are expected because Patrior grew out of Project Ubin, a collaborative blockchain project run by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).