Societe Generale issues tokenized bonds on Ethereum blockchain

Societe Generale Group, one of the largest financial institutions in France, issued tokenized bonds to the tune of $112 million on the Ethereum blockchain.

According to the announcement, the bank’s  subsidiary Societe Generale SFH issued OFH tokens backed by covered bonds in the amount of 100 million euros.  

“This live transaction explores a more efficient process for bond issuances. Many areas of added value are predicted, among which, product scalability and reduced time to market, computer code automation structuring, thus better transparency, faster transferability and settlement. It proposes a new standard for issuances and secondary market bond trading and reduces cost and the number of intermediaries,” the company commented in its press-release.

Meanwhile, the rating agency Moody’s Investors Service released the information that Societe Generale was “the sole investor” of the issue, which means that the tokens were not sold outside the company.

This project was designed and implemented by one of the internal startups of the bank called Societe Generale FORGE. According to the press-release, the company was consulted by PwC on the technology aspects and by French law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel on legal aspects.

Societe Generale joined the group of large financial institutions experimenting with blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, the US-based J.P. Morgan announced the launch of  a proprietary digital coin JPM Coin, while Barclays Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) joined R3 to streamline real estate purchases.