A Finnish provider of data services Asiakastieto Group, Nordic financial institutions Nordea and OP Group, and Nordic IT services and software company Tieto have jointly with public authorities developed world’s first blockchain technology-based business network that enables establishing limited liability companies fully digitally. Blockchains also enable creating a fully digital identity for new companies and updating it in real-time.The business network has been created in co-operation with authorities and businesses, providing a reliable, simple and entirely digital way of founding a limited liability company. Asiakastieto Group, Nordea, OP Group and Tieto carried out all the development work in Finland. The project also included experts from the Finnish Tax Administration and the Finnish Patent and Registration Office.
“We are proud of this pioneering work which has been done in extensive cooperation and at a very rapid pace here in Finland. Our work represents a completely new kind of opportunity to establish a limited liability company digitally. Business-related information can be shared in real-time among a network of trusted partners. This creates entirely new business opportunities,” says Masa Peura, Director of New Business at OP Group.“
During the past couple of years, blockchain-based decentralised platforms have become much more common which gives the opportunity to establish new types of business and trust networks across multiple actors. The public sector has a pivotal role to play as a catalyst for digitalizing the society, as it maintains the base registries that contain verifiable data used in transactions between both public and private organizations. A prime example of this is the digital company founding process,” says Markus Hautala, Head of Blockchain Solutions at Tieto.
Real-time business information improves trust and transparency
Thanks to blockchain technology, the business network created as a result of this collaboration enables information about a company’s founders and representatives to be updated and made available to every party in the network in real-time. In current systems, it is not possible to update company information to both authorities and financial sector entities simultaneously and in real-time.
In this process, a digital identity is also created for the first time for limited liability companies. This enables the company to be reliably identified and allows the company to fully operate by sharing online verifiable information about itself. For example, the company can authorise its employees to represent the company digitally. Accounts can be opened for the company, it can be registered for VAT and Tax Administration prepayment register, the Finnish Patent and Registration Office can register the company, and the company can manage its shareholder register – all this entirely digitally.