Marieke Flament, who formerly worked as the European managing director of Circle, will reportedly join RBS as CEO of Mettle, its digital service for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The Roybal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has hired a former executive from cryptocurrency finance firm Circle, according to a report by the Financial Times on June 18.
Mettle has reportedly been operational since November 2018, and RBS is aiming to roll out a standalone version of the service in August. Flament commented on potential for financial disruption in the SME sector with Mettle, saying:
“There is a huge opportunity for disruption in SME digital banking. Insight and feedback garnered during the pilot stage have shown that we are in a very strong position to capitalize on this opportunity through Mettle.”
As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the Royal Bank of Scotland joined a trial program in April that used blockchain tech to streamline real estate payments. The trial reportedly used a tool from startup Instant Property Network – based on R3’s open source platform Corda – to cut costs and offer more transparency in property acquisitions.
Executive John Stecher at Barclays, another major bank participating in the trial, commented on the current un-streamlined process of buying a house, saying:
“When a person wants to purchase a house, the process encompasses a whole host of different interactions with different businesses and governmental entities that can be uncomfortable and drawn out.”
