Synechron Inc., the digital, business consulting and technology services provider, today reveals 89% of senior executives questioned in a survey conducted by TABB Group believe blockchain will be in everyday use in the financial services industry by 2026. The results suggest that despite various levels of action on blockchain initiatives, the majority of financial services organizations believe in the long-term, innovative potential of blockchain and are merely calculating how to take action factoring in business unit, use case and resources to achieve maximum business value.

According to the survey, 94% of respondents believe boards have bought into developing blockchain projects and nearly 87% believe they have enough budget to implement blockchain projects. However, one of the biggest challenges for companies implementing blockchain today is a lack of human resource with 70% of the senior-level, global financial services business and IT decision-makers across the U.S. U.K. and Europe who took part in the survey stating they do not believe their organizations currently have enough talent capable of implementing blockchain technology. 

Despite these challenges, the survey does show, however, that over two-thirds (67.4%) of companies are actively engaging in blockchain initiatives, 13% of the senior executives said they are assembling a blockchain team, and nearly one in five (16.7%) have identified a use case for the technology - with respondents citing Global Payments, Trade Finance, and KYC as the most popular use cases they are looking to operationalize using blockchain. Furthermore, 15% of respondents said they have already built a pilot blockchain application, either on their own or with a counterparty, and nearly a quarter (22.7%) are currently participating in a working group on the technology.

On the topic of regulation, interestingly, almost 25% said they were waiting for regulatory guidance on blockchain before taking action; however, perhaps, following recent regulatory guidance from FINRA, that may begin to change. Despite regulation serving as a barrier to action, only 16.7% of firms citing regulatory guidance as an issue they’re most interested in seeing solved related to blockchain. Instead, they’re more interested in seeing technology uncertainties and limitations addressed. Mainly, 29.3% said their most important issue is interoperability (one blockchain solution being unable to integrate with another using a different underlying infrastructure), followed closely by privacy (20.9%) and scalability (20.5%).

Faisal Husain, CEO at Synechron, commented: “It is clear that many financial services firms are either seriously considering how to utilize blockchain within their organization or are already putting this technology into practice. However, with any new technology there are challenges to be overcome. Our survey shows that recruiting the right people is one such challenge, regulation is another, and technical considerations related to the technology itself another. Companies will need to assess carefully how they approach each individually, and this will require knowledge across these areas to make the most strategic decision on how to proceed and to take action.”

Key findings:

• 89% of senior executives believe blockchain will be in everyday use in the financial services industry by 2026
• 94% believe boards have bought into developing blockchain projects
• 87% believe they have enough budget to implement blockchain projects
• 70% do not believe their organizations currently have enough talent capable of implementing blockchain technology
• 67.4% are actively engaging in blockchain technology:
  • 13% are assembling a blockchain team; 16.7% have identified a use case for the technology; 15% have already built a pilot blockchain application, either on their own or with a counterparty; 22.7% are currently participating in a working group on the technology
• 25% are waiting for regulatory guidance on blockchain before implementing it
• Only 16.7% of respondents cited regulatory guidance as an issue they’re most interested in seeing solved; whereas 29.3% said their most important issue is interoperability, 20.9% said privacy, and 20.5% scalability.