The Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) declares the launch of its central blockchain securities lending platform in Israel. This will enable capital market players to direct lending among all the primary financial instruments. According to TASE, the Blockchain Securities Lending (BSL) intends to discuss the fragmented, inefficient, and opaque nature of Israel’s securities lending market.

The platform will operate as a one-stop-shop for all securities lending activities, allowing access to larger securities volumes in shorter timeframes, even working in shorter-term positions. Uri Shavit, chief information officer for TASE, says BSL will offer a distributed service to all Israeli market participants to develop market volumes and make securities lending accessible for more players.

This year, TASE associated with Blockchain Technology Partners (BTP) to put the finishing strokes on its distributed ledger technology (DLT) securities lending project ahead of the platform’s launch. In March 2020, TASE members were given admittance to an initial testing environment to test lending transactions in the new platform and adjust their systems in preparation for the production phase.

There is recently no central securities lending platform in the Israeli market. At present, securities lending is executed utilizing inter-bank mechanisms within, and if necessary, outside, banking group limits. As a result, the market has not been fully exploited to satisfy economic agents’ potential needs.

The use of DLT as the basis of this new trading platform will harness some of the blockchain’s primary advantages and features, like direct peer-to-peer transactions, Smart Contract, and improved security via immutability. All of these are expected to profit TASE, its custodians, and their clients by decreasing costs, increasing safety, and allowing the market to exploit its full potential.

Orly Grinfeld, EVP and head of clearing at TASE, says in a statement, “The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is proud to present this first-of-a-kind lending pool, a safe, cutting-edge and state of the art platform. The Blockchain technology will present a new level of safety for securities lending and will support growth for transactions based on this new platform. TASE is a global financial innovation leader, and strategically pursues the technological advancement of the capital market.”