Bank of Ireland, AIB using blockchain for staff credentials

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A collaboration between the Bank of Ireland, AIB and Ulster Bank will introduce a new blockchain-based platform for use in the financial services industry. This platform is not new, as it has been used with Deloitte and the Institute of Banking as an education platform, but it has been discovered that this platform will work perfectly to aid in the verification and tracking of educational and regulatory qualifications and credentials for employees.

For AIB, many have to wonder if the financial institution is looking for ways to improve its security across all of its platforms by implementing this new blockchain technology. In June 2018, they had been working with Bitcove, as had the Bank of Ireland, but the accounts had to be closed down as Bitcove was not able to properly support the cryptocurrency exchange facilities. This was a tough blow for the company as they had been chosen by the Bank of Ireland for the “best business start-up award,” but were forced to close up shop because of inadequate programming.

With cryptocurrency becoming an ever popular asset for investors and users to own, it would not be surprising to see all three of these partners looking for an opportunity to get back into the digital currency world. The fact that this announcement was given during Blockchain Ireland Week seems to be a clear sign that the organizations are looking for as much publicity as possible to show their commitment to the use of this technology.

Explained Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohue earlier this week, “We’re actively and constantly monitoring developments in this technology and in regulations globally so that any policy changes and debates in policy will be done so in a way that’s balanced and is careful.”

Mai Santamaria, who is leading the project for the Department of Finance, explained that this could be a slow process, but the intention is to use this technology to bridge the gaps that have existed in the world of financial regulation. “When you’re building something when you have something that’s quite new, it’s not teeth that you need. What you need are eyes and ears and a brain a lot of time, to be able to read, time to actually listen to people telling you (about it) and for that, you don’t necessarily need teeth when you’re building it and that’s very important.”