Japanese financial services giant Mizuho Financial Group and IT services provider Cognizant have formed a partnership to develop a blockchain solution for secure record-keeping of documents among Mizuho Financial Group companies around the world.
The agreement marks the beginning of a strategic program at Mizuho to leverage blockchain technology for building new work processes to make transactions and digital interactions more secure, transparent, efficient and cost-effective, thereby delivering superior experience to customers.
Cognizant will bring financial services, consulting and digital technology expertise to design and develop a blockchain solution for Mizuho’s customers, counterparties, and group companies to exchange and sign sensitive documents in a secure and transparent manner, resulting in faster, more efficient processing and multi-party verification. This engagement will initially focus on New York and Tokyo, where most Mizuho group companies are based.
Cognizant notes that it has been making focused investments to strengthen its blockchain capabilities, develop innovative digital frameworks and prototypes to harness distributed ledgers, and build a world-class alliance ecosystem. The company is collaborating with some of the world’s leading financial services organizations to help them embrace blockchain technology.
Prasad Chintamaneni, President, Banking and Financial Services, Cognizant commented:
“We continue to invest in our blockchain capabilities and are going beyond cryptocurrencies into newer areas such as smart contracts and P2P transactions. This agreement will pave the way for increased adoption of Blockchain technology at Mizuho Financial Group to minimize counterparty risks, speed up settlements, improve contractual performance, and enhance regulatory reporting.”
