Bankhaus Metzler and Deka have for the first time carried out a securities transaction without pre-collateralization in real time. For this, the two partners used Deka’s new securities platform, which is based on blockchain technology. The platform is called Secure Worldwide Interbank Asset Transfer (SWIAT for short) and was developed together with Comyno, a software and consulting company based in Frankfurt am Main.

Blockchain technology eliminates the need for mandatory collateral, also known as collateral, in securities lending. If both trading partners have the appropriate securities holdings, trading can take the form of “delivery versus delivery.” The result, he said, is reduced counterparty risks and less coordination effort between the trading parties, because trade and settlement are possible at approximately the same time and the transfer takes place directly between the custodian banks.