Home / Archive / BMW Partners Blockchain Startup to Develop Customer Lending Solution

BMW Partners Blockchain Startup to Develop Customer Lending Solution

Last Updated March 4, 2021 3:40 PM
Jimmy Aki
Last Updated March 4, 2021 3:40 PM

BMW Group financial services has announced its partnership with blockchain startup Bloom  in a bid to streamline its customer journey and user experience, per a Medium post .

Bloom helps to make the traditional lending process easier hence helping to reduce the risk that consumer data is exposed to. Individuals can secure their data on their local device and apply for credit without exposing data to risk, using Bloom’s blockchain-based mobile application. Anyone can take advantage of the blockchain technology because of bloom’s straightforward onboarding process. Through this move, BMW Financial Services will revolutionize the way individuals apply for financing.

“Bloom is excited to participate in such a forward-thinking initiative. I’m excited to be working with the BMW Financial Services team to build a streamlined and easy lending experience to improve the customer journey,” said Anne Ching, Head of Partnerships at Bloom.

Ian Smith, the CEO of BMW Group Financial Services USA, also added that BMW is “looking to examine any and all methods of how blockchain ledgers could support the transformation of current data warehousing, payment, and customer information tracking.”

According to Smith, BMW’s goal is to automate a large part of their processing and focus more on tracking and securing of information.

This initiative is part of the BMW collaboration Lab 2018 which involves six startups that will be participating in a 10-week lab at BMW Financial Services’ offices in Hilliard, Ohio. The program will focus on some critical areas including building a blockchain strategy, data analytics, and insights, digitalizing the customer journey and wildcard.

BMW has been trialing the blockchain technology to solve a range of problems. The automobile giant is also one of the founding members of the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative  (MOBI), alongside Ford, GM and others. The initiative was created to accelerate the adoption of distributed ledgers and related technologies in the automobile industry.

Other car manufacturers that have developed blockchain-based customer financing include Daimler AG who acquired PayCAsh Europe SA last year in a bid to launch its electronic payment services platform which includes a number of payment options, including Bitcoin. The payment service platform was part of Daimler’s “mobility and digitization strategy” which enable customers to pay for Daimler’s services via a smartphone device.

Featured image from Shutterstock.