Aviva Investors partners with fintech to tokenise products

Aviva Investors has partnered with fintech company Ripple to tokenise its product offering.

Ripple adds traditional financial assets to the XRP Ledger – a decentralised open-source public blockchain designed for fast and efficient global financial transactions – which features compliance capabilities to support financial institutions operating in regulated markets.

Since 2012, the network has processed more than four billion transactions, supports over seven million active wallets, and is maintained by 120 independent validators.

This collaboration marks Ripple’s first with a European investment management business and is the first initiative of its kind for Aviva Investors as it seeks to incorporate tokenised solutions into the existing product offering.

The XRPL enables Aviva Investors to issue and manage its tokenised funds using fast, secure, low-cost blockchain transactions without the need for energy-intensive mining.

Jill Barber, chief distribution officer at Aviva Investors, said: “We believe there are many benefits that tokenisation can bring to investors, including improvements in terms of both time and cost efficiency.

“We are committed to adopting technological advancements that we believe can bring about positive change for our business, and we think tokenised funds can be hugely beneficial to our clients.”

Nigel Khakoo, vice president, trading and markets at Ripple, added: “The development of tokenised fund structures is one that we believe can bring huge technological efficiencies to the investment sector, and we expect this to take full effect over the next decade.

“With its built-in compliance tools, near-instant settlement, and native liquidity, the XRPL provides the secure and scalable infrastructure required to support the next generation of institutional assets.”