As part of the Central Bank of Bahrain’s (CBB) vision to improve customer experience for safe and efficient settlement solutions, the CBB has announced the completion of a test with Onyx by J.P. Morgan’s JPM Coin System. This is a first of its kind test of JPM Coin System in the region.
The test enabled Bank ABC to initiate real-time payments for Aluminium Bahrain (ALBA) to benefit ALBA’s counterparties in the United States, leveraging JPM Coin System, a permissioned system that serves as a payment rail and deposit account ledger, enabling participating entities to transfer US Dollars held on deposit with J.P. Morgan.
CBB’s governor, Rasheed Al Maraj, said in a statement: “Through our work with ALBA, Bank ABC and Onyx by J.P. Morgan, we aspire to address and eliminate the inefficiencies and pain-points which exist today in the traditional cross-border payments arena.”
Sael Al Waary, deputy Group CEO of Bank ABC, said in a statement: “As part of our mission to create the ‘bank of the future’, we have been able to leverage the digital banking capabilities of Bank ABC, to facilitate seamless cross-border payments using our APIs together with JP Morgan’s blockchain network. The pilot was tested using US dollars, and this technology will allow us to scale-up our existing offering and introduce more currencies in the future.”
Ali Moosa, vice chair and senior country officer at J.P. Morgan Bahrain, said in a statement: “Onyx by J.P. Morgan is committed to leading the buildout of next generation clearing and settlement infrastructures and we are delighted to work with a leading central bank like CBB and an innovation-focused institution in Bank ABC to lead this project in the region. The completed test with ALBA and Bank ABC will help inform further development of JPM Coin Systems for future use by our correspondent banking partners.”