Iberdrola, BBVA and Santander have arranged a €150 million syndicated financing that is managed across its whole life cycle using distributed ledger technology. The platform was built by ioBuilders together with the two banks. It covers drawdown, interest, waivers, repayments, transfers of participations and maturity. All authorised participants see a single, shared and unchangeable record in real time.

What it means: Syndicated loans are among the most paperwork-heavy products in banking. Many banks take part, each keeps its own records, and the agent bank spends a lot of time on reconciliations, notices and corrections. A shared record that updates automatically cuts errors and operating costs. What makes this deal significant is that it is not a pilot but a live loan to a large utility, with every contractual event recorded on the blockchain. For Greece, where syndicated loans fund energy projects, infrastructure and shipping, the example is relevant. Greek banks often join syndicates for large projects, and shared infrastructure could speed up administration and make it easier to sell participations to other investors. The banks say the technology could also open the market to mid-sized companies, which would help the Greek economy. The main obstacle is not the technology but getting many banks to agree on one platform, along with the legal recognition of the records. The Spanish example shows that such cooperation is possible. Greek lenders could start with a joint pilot on one smaller facility to test the legal and operational questions before committing to a shared platform.

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