PRI and BRAC Bank organise workshop on blockchain technology

Senior officials at the blockchain technology workshop of BRAC Bank and PRI
Senior officials at the blockchain technology workshop of BRAC Bank and PRI

Policy Research Institute (PRI) and BRAC Bank organised a workshop on ‘Application of Blockchain as a Technology for SME Financing and Mortgage/Lien’.

Lawrence Ma, president of Hong Kong Blockchain, and co-founder, CEO and chief scientist of eMALI.IO Limited, conducted the workshop at the BRAC Bank head office in Dhaka on Saturday, 26 October. Academicians, researchers, economists, senior officials of Bangladesh Bank, civil society members and professionals from banking, telecom, ICT and development sectors participated in the workshop.

Blockchain is a much talked about new technological innovation with immense potential in banking and financial sector. It holds promise in data management with utmost security and authenticity especially for SME Financing and Mortgage/Lien.

Blockchain draws the world’s attention as the Internet is entering a second era. The first was based on information being available anywhere and anytime – Internet of Information. The second, powered by an intelligent combination of cryptography, mathematics, software engineering and behavioural economics - blockchain technology - is bringing us the Internet of Value: a new, distributed platform that will help reshape business and transform the world.

The workshop focused on the technical, business and legal aspects of blockchain, along with a few promising enterprise usages, emphasising on small and medium traders, of blockchain/distributed ledger technology. The participant has been able delve deep into the very foundation of yet nascent but promising blockchain technology. The participants were given a virtual tour at the root of the evolving technology and its potential application of the technology in their respective businesses.

Ahsan H Mansur, chairman, BRAC Bank, and executive director, Policy Research Institute, moderated a panel discussion on blockchain. Lawrence Ma, Habibullah N Karim, founder and CEO, Techno Haven, Ifty Islam, chairman, Asian Tiger Capital Partners, Zaidi Sattar, chairman, Policy Research Institute; and Sabbir Hossain, deputy managing director and COO, BRAC Bank, participated in the panel discussion.

Chowdhury Akhtar Asif, deputy managing director and CRO, Mohammod Masud Rana, deputy managing director and CFO, Ahmed Rashid Joy, head of credit risk management, and Wasi Noman, chief technology officer, BRAC Bank, were present at the workshop.