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Allen & Overy advises Standard Chartered in a multibank partnership with DekaBank, LBBW and Comyno building the blockchain platform SWIAT

Allen & Overy advised international bank Standard Chartered on entering into a joint venture with big German banks to fund the blockchain platform SWIAT.

Through its SC Ventures arm, Standard Chartered invests along with Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) and Frankfurt-based financial software specialist Comyno in the blockchain-based financial market infrastructure provider SWIAT. The investment comes as part of the first funding round to further develop SWIAT, and is subject to necessary anti-trust and other regulatory clearances.

The new joint venture aims to create a uniform standard for processing blockchain-based securities. It will provide software to create a decentralised financial infrastructure and frictionless, real-time settlement in multiple use cases including securities lending, repurchase agreements, derivatives and bond issuance.

The Allen & Overy team was led by partner Dr Hans Schoneweg and senior associate Juliane Dieckmann-Keden (both Corporate/M&A, Hamburg) and comprised partners Dr Udo Olgemoeller (Public Law, Frankfurt), Dr Jens Matthes (IP, Dusseldorf) and Dr Matthias Horn (Corporate/M&A, Frankfurt) as well as counsels Dr Ioannis Thanos (Antitrust) and Dr Daniel Bolm (Real Estate). The team also included senior associates Dr Marcus Mackensen (Corporate/Private Equity, all Hamburg), Anna Kraeling (IP), Catharina Glugla (Data) and Florian Annuschat (Tax, all Dusseldorf), associates Dr Stephan Buehner (Public Law, Frankfurt), Chantal Ahnefeld (Employment & Benefits), Christin Schlorf, Juliana Palavra Gorgueira (all Hamburg), Florian Diehl (Frankfurt) and Transaction Officer Dario Barbato (all Corporate/M&A, Hamburg).