RBS Shows An Interest In Cryptocurrency

In an interview with The Memo, Head of Technology, Media and Telecoms at NatWest Neil Bellamy remarked on the bank's growing interest in the cryptocurrency space, saying that the technology presents an interesting opportunity for traditional finance to keep up with the ever changing fintech landscape. NatWest is a part of RBS, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland RBS, marking a big step forward for the cryptocurrency community.

In-House Cryptocurrency

According to Bellamy the bank created its own cryptocurrency as an experiment. The firm issued, traded and settled the currency between its banks, in order to see just how using such a system would work. That type of innovation, he said, is essential to keeping pace with the rest of the industry and ensuring that traditional banking is able to keep up with new entrants.

Related Link: Bitcoin May Be Flailing, But Blockchain Is On The Rise

Testing Facilities

Bellamy also boasted about the bank's testing facilities, which allow fintech firms to bring a new idea to life in a real-world setting. They can see how the technology would work in a finance environment before bringing it to market. This offering has even drawn in a cryptocurrency firm which tested its bitcoin distributed ledger technology using the firm's technology solution center.

Blockchain Has Potential

Bellamy also reiterated what many finance professionals are saying; that blockchain represents a promising new technology for the finance sector. He pointed out the complications that RBS faces in conducting transactions between its many businesses. Once blockchain has been developed further, he sees it as a way to unite the bank's many systems and do away with cumbersome infrastructure.