Sberbank Buys Commercial Bonds Issued Over Blockchain Platform

Russian bank Sberbank CIB and telecoms firm MTS have conducted what they say is the country's first commercial bond transaction made using blockchain.

MTS announced Tuesday that it had placed commercial bonds of 750 million rubles ($12.11 million), with the primary buyer being Sberbank, using a proprietary blockchain platform provided by the National Settlement Depository (NSD) and based on Hyperledger Fabric 1.1.

The bonds issued have a maturity of 182 days with an annual coupon rate of 6.8 percent and were placed on OTC market, according to a press release. The transaction used the "delivery versus payment" (DVP) method of settlement and was compliant with Russian legislation, it adds.

Andrey Kamensky, VP of finance, investments and M&A at MTS, commented that the successful blockchain transaction was carried out through "the entire settlement chain, from security placement and cash receipt to fulfillment of all obligations to the investor."

Kamensky added:

"MTS intends to continue employing blockchain-based solutions, primarily in financial markets, due to [the technology's] clear advantages in increasing transaction transparency and the participants' confidence, while substantially reducing transaction costs."

As reported by CoinDesk, the NSD, the central depository for Russia's largest securities exchange group, announced trials of its Hyperledger-based commercial bond trading platform in October 2017. At the time, Raiffeisenbank Russia had already tested the system with the purchase of $10 million-worth of bonds in a mobile phone network.

According to Eddi Astanin, chairman of the board at NSD: "The pioneering transaction with Sberbank and MTS confirmed blockchain's status as an efficient industrial technology providing confidentiality and speed during securities settlement."

Sberbank image via Shutterstock

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