Banks continue progress in blockchain technology – Major Canadian Bank, RBC – Royal Bank of Canada – Files Patent To Make Credit Scores ‘Transparent’ Via Blockchain – Royal Bank of Canada recently filed a patent to use blockchain technology to make credit score calculations more transparent for consumers according to the patent application from the US Patent and Trademark Office released March 15, 2018. Canada’s largest bank is embracing change and we believe eventually others will be forced to. The patent describes a Blockchain-based credit score platform where “credit records are recorded using blocks linked by identification data. The credit record stores historical and predictive information about borrowers used to compute credit ratings.” According to the patent, the traditional manner of calculating a credit score is “not transparent”. Customers are not always informed when certain data affects their credit score, nor do they “have the tools to take control of their credit score.”

With distributed ledger technology as described in the patent, customers would be “notified when third party credit checks happen or when the credit score changes.” For example, in the case of a missed bill payment that negatively affected their credit score, consumers would be sent a credit alert. The patent is not the first blockchain development for RBC. In 2017, the bank invested over $30 million CAD along with other Canadian banks into SecureKey’s blockchain identification system. RBC has also tested the Hyperledger blockchain for sending funds to U.S based banks. “Everybody recognizes blockchain will be transformative and critical,” said Martin Wildberger, RBC’s executive vice president for innovation and technology. speaking about the interbank money transfer testing. “At the same point in time, I think everybody recognizes these are early days.”

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