“A technology that has the ability to conduct and verify transactions via an immutable, time-stamped record that is replicated on servers across the globe has immense implications for the banking sector. We’re talking about a massive overhaul of the banking industry’s processes and a significant reduction in costs,” Chief Economist for BBVA Compass Nathaniel Karp has said in a report titled Blockchain Technology: The Ultimate Disruption in the Financial System.
The bank’s economists have concluded that while interest in the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin has evened out, the underlying technology blockchain is attraction more attention and investments because of its ability to safely conduct transactions without involving a third party.
The economists also agreed that while the initial mainstream adoption will most probably be in the payments sector, the next wave of adoption might completely alter the way financial markets work.
“Given that the majority of financial assets such as bonds, equities, derivatives, and loans are already electronic it may be possible that someday the entire system is replaced by a decentralized structure.”
Nathaniel is confident that the disruption will eventually happen but stated that it is still questionable when the blockchain technology will have wide applications in the financial domain.
Apart from the financial services industry, banks, governments and industry groups are experimenting with the blockchain technology for improving audits, registering and transferring property, securing voting results, and transforming the way law is practiced. Blockchain Apparatus recently conducted the nation’s first presidential straw poll using the blockchain tech.
Nathaniel Karp leads the research wing at the bank and analyzes the U.S. economy and Federal Reserve monetary policy. The economists create models and forecasts for growth, inflation, monetary policy and industries.
BBVA Compass is a Sunbelt-based financial institution that operates 672 branches and ranks among the top 25 largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share.
DougNJ 
In this “immutable, time-stamped record” I do not think the “time-stamped” portion is all that important. Blocks in the chain are not necessarily chronological. It is common enough for one block to have a time stamp six minutes earlier than the previous block it got the hash from. Sometimes two blocks will have a later time stamp than the last block added.
Also some may argue that “to safely conduct transactions” one MUST involve a third party, the miners! Perhaps it should read “without involving a trusted third party”, but a 3rd party none the less. The miners are the ones with the hardware to add the blocks of transactions to the blockchain. Without these 3rd parties the process seizes up and BTC has pretty much the value of zed.
Or it could state “involving a greedy third party” since without the block reward of 25 BTC I doubt any miner would act as a charity so that you and Starmuck’s can transact coffees. At least the ones adding blocks get paid as it were. There is another sub-class of ‘3rd party’ involved in all this, those that run Full-Nodes [those few places where a For-Real intact Blockchain reside]. Full-nodes have zero financial incentive to keep going, other than an exchange’s or a whale’s self interest.