ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, IBM (NYSE: IBM), Scentre Group and Westpac announced on Tuesday they have jointly launched a live pilot for Lygon, which is described as a new digital platform using blockchain technology to transform the way businesses obtain and manage bank guarantees that are often required as part of a retail property lease.
The organizations reported that the launch marks a significant milestone in the global development of blockchain solutions.
“Lygon represents an industry solution that the participants could not have individually implemented. The founding members have brought together their deep understanding of industry processes to navigate from proof of concept to a live platform that will directly benefit customers and address their feedback on the way in which bank guarantees have been issued to date.”
The organizations also noted that The pilot will run for eight weeks with live data and transactions for a test group of retail property leasing customers. In subsequent phases, Lygon plans to expand the range of digitized bank guarantees that it supports across other industries as well as offering its services to other customers in the retail property sector. They went on to add:
“Thousands of retailers around Australia – from single store operators to national and international brands – need bank guarantees from their banks to secure a lease over a retail tenancy. The pilot will involve lease holders with retail outlets in some of Scentre Group’s Westfield living centres across Australia. After the pilot, Lygon intends to offer access to the platform to all issuers, applicants, and beneficiaries and support broader use cases over time.”
The Lygon platform will be operated by Lygon 1B Pty Ltd, a company jointly owned by the five founding members.
