[ U P D AT E ]
Northern
Trust debuts
blockchain tech
for private equity
auditing
THE LAUNCH COMES ONE
YEAR AFTER NORTHERN
TRUST PARTNERED WITH IBM
IN THE FIRST COMMERCIAL
DEPLOYMENT OF BLOCKCHAIN
FOR THE PRIVATE EQUITY
MARKET.
10
Global Custodian
N
orthern Trust has gone live with a block-
chain solution allowing firms to carry
out audits of private equity lifecycle events,
as it continues to expand its technological
capabilities for alternative fund managers.
The global custodian will allow audit firms
to have their own blockchain node, provid-
ing access to relevant fund data to enable
real-time processes.
Northern Trust has worked alongside PwC
in Guersey to grant access to fund data held
on the blockchain to auditors.
“By expanding our private equity block-
chain ecosystem to the audit community,
Northern Trust has enabled audit trans-
actions to be recorded on a blockchain in
real time,” said Pete Cherecwich, president
of corporate and institutional services at
Northern Trust.
“This will result in direct efficiencies to
both the audit firms and Northern Trust,
Private Equity Issue 2018
and provide investors with a more timely
and valued assurance product.”
The enhancement to its private equity
capabilities comes one year after it an-
nounced a landmark partnership with IBM
to use blockchain in private equity, the first
commercial deployment of the technology
for the private equity market.
The solution is also based off the open
source Linux Foundation Hyperledger Fabric.
“Our ability to directly access distributed
ledgers such as the one within the Northern
Trust system will allow us to build upon our
own blockchain investments. Such inno-
vation assists clients as they invest in the
opportunities arising from emerging tech-
nologies,” added Nick Vermeulen, partner at
PwC Channel Islands.