First Abu Dhabi Bank and JP Morgan pilot programmable payments

Working with JP Morgan’s blockchain unit Onyx, FAB completed time-based and threshold balance-based account funding into deposit accounts to execute a payment obligation. The partners say this opens up the possibility of a dynamic and automated funding and settlement solution to FAB and JP Morgan’s mutual clients. FB says traditional cash concentration structures often lack real-time features or event-based configuration controlled by a bank. In contrast, programmability can be used to provide flexibility to the client. Conditions for payment initiation and execution can be replicated on the bank’s side, resulting in improved response times with finality and traceability. In addition, banks, with their rich transaction data, are in a better position to build a wide range of programmable scenarios, including instructions within payments and obligation-linked payments that are settled in an all-or-none manner. With programmable payments, treasurers can transition from cash forecasting to dynamic or just-in-time funding 24/7, maximising yields on surplus cash and minimising fees and opportunity costs. “We are delighted to work with the FAB to extend our programmable payment offerings to multi-bank use cases. We believe that digital programmable ledgers will form the foundations for the finternet in the coming years,” says Naveen Mallela, co-head, Onyx by JP Morgan.