The Business Times

To Tap Tomorrow's Distributed Ledger Tech, Firms Must Act Now

Companies that are proactive and strategic about distributed ledger technology can gain an edge, even in such a challenging climate.

By Thomas Olsen and Frank Ford

Published on June 14, 2017
min read


This article originally appeared in The Business Times (subscription required). With all the noise surrounding distributed ledger technology (DLT), you'd expect participants in financial markets to be racing full-bore to get ready for it. But many are not. With DLT, the ledger has one shared and constantly updated vision of the truth, synchronised across multiple sites. That changes the need for a central intermediary. DLT generates a secure, immutable historical record and a full audit trail. A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger. Presented almost daily with new claims about DLT's disruptive and revolutionary potential, some executives have begun to wonder when they'll actually begin to see some benefits from the technology. Financial market participants know DLT is coming. About 80 percent of executives at financial institutions surveyed by Bain & Company believe the technology will be transformative, and a similar percentage expect their organisations to begin using it before 2020. Yet, at the same time, they're hesitant to commit resources now. Among the market participants Bain surveyed, 38 percent said they've adopted a wait-and-see approach. Read the full article on The Business Times. Thomas Olsen is a partner in Bain’s Financial Services and Strategy practices in Singapore. Frank Ford is a partner in Bain’s Financial Services and Information Technology practices in London.

This article originally appeared in The Business Times (subscription required).

With all the noise surrounding distributed ledger technology (DLT), you'd expect participants in financial markets to be racing full-bore to get ready for it. But many are not. With DLT, the ledger has one shared and constantly updated vision of the truth, synchronised across multiple sites. That changes the need for a central intermediary. DLT generates a secure, immutable historical record and a full audit trail. A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger.

Presented almost daily with new claims about DLT's disruptive and revolutionary potential, some executives have begun to wonder when they'll actually begin to see some benefits from the technology.

Financial market participants know DLT is coming. About 80 percent of executives at financial institutions surveyed by Bain & Company believe the technology will be transformative, and a similar percentage expect their organisations to begin using it before 2020.

Yet, at the same time, they're hesitant to commit resources now. Among the market participants Bain surveyed, 38 percent said they've adopted a wait-and-see approach.

Read the full article on The Business Times.

Thomas Olsen is a partner in Bain’s Financial Services and Strategy practices in Singapore. Frank Ford is a partner in Bain’s Financial Services and Information Technology practices in London.