Overcoming Barriers to Blockchain Technological Innovation in Trade Finance Faced by U.S. Banks

Abstract

The major U.S. banks have been reluctant to adopt blockchain technology in trade finance because of several barriers associated with the technology. The hesitancy in adopting the technology has led to higher costs, inconvenience to customers, vulnerability to cyber-attacks and susceptibility to forgery, and predicted losses in trade finance revenues of up to 10.5% per year for the next four years. This modified Delphi project identified 18 feasible and desirable forward-looking approaches to overcoming barriers to adopting blockchain technological innovation in trade finance within U.S. banks. A panel of 13 blockchain implementation experts in the financial industry was recruited through User Interviews and LinkedIn. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected, analyzed, and documented using four iterative rounds of electronically administered surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform. The panelists selected the top five approaches, and 92.3% of the participants were confident with the results and rated the findings as reliable or very reliable. Some of the reasons participants were confident with the results included: 69% of the participants mentioned people or talent; 61% mentioned leveraging existing infrastructure; 30% mentioned the importance of investing in R&D, and 23% mentioned financial resources and collaboration as critical to achieving the goal of blockchain technological innovation in trade finance.