BBVA Issues Porsche Corporate Loan Via Blockchain

Leading sports car manufacturer Porsche and financial services group Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) announced the closing of a €150 million (approximately $170 million) corporate loan using the Spanish bank’s blockchain platform.

The loan, which BBVA claims to be the “first acquisition term loan ever arranged through blockchain technology” was granted to Porsche Holding Salzburg, Europe’s largest automotive distributer. The loan will facilitate the “strategic acquisitions in the retail distribution network in Europe and Asia.”

Porsche is now the first non-Spanish company to use the BBVA’s blockchain to close a corporate loan.

In April, BBVA announced it had completed a €75 million “global corporate loan transaction” using blockchain from start to finish. During this pilot test, BBVA partnered with global technology and consulting company Idra to see if blockchain tech could increase the transparency related to the corporate loan process.

In May, BBVA partnered with Japan-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and France’s BNP Paribas to complete a €150 million loan that was granted to Spain’s national electrical grid operator, Red Eléctrica Corporation.

While BBVA claimed the Red Eléctrica Corporation loan be the first “blockchain-based syndicated loan arrangement” and that it was the first time a real-life deal was completed, that deal actually took place on the Ethereumtestnet instead of the mainnet.

Going forward, BBVA is looking to use blockchain technology to increase the usefulness and transparency of its “core products,” such as corporate financing, and develop a “Do It Yourself (or DIY) financing model for its business and corporate clients.”

 

 

By NATHAN GRAHAM