Northern Trust has made a “breakthrough” in securities servicing by deploying legal clauses as smart contracts on blockchain.
The application will be able to transfer legal clauses as smart contracts from a digital legal agreement onto Northern Trust’s private equity blockchain.
The software was developed by Avvoka, originally for Emerald Technology Ventures, to allow users to negotiate, review and digitally sign legal agreements.
This is the latest enhancement to Northern Trust’s blockchain solution, which was originally launched in 2017 for private equity fund administration, following updates to embedded codes in legal agreements.
Pete Cherecwich, president of corporate and institutional services at Northern Trust, commented: “As financial markets move towards digital processes, Northern Trust will continue to drive the technology innovation that will redefine our industry.”
“The collaboration and innovation that led to this further breakthrough in blockchain technology is a testament to all parties involved. The ability to leverage digital documents that include smart contract codes across multiple platforms is a very significant step towards the future digital environment of securities servicing.”
Emerald Technology Ventures’s partner and CFO, Hans Dellenbach, added: “We see digital contract collaboration platforms growing in use and are excited that Northern Trust have developed this advanced technology capable of delivering smart contracts directly to its Guernsey-based private equity blockchain.”
