New Delhi, Jun 12 (IANS): BankChain, a platform for banks in India to explore, build, and implement blockchain solutions, on Monday announced to select Microsoft Azure platform as its exclusive Cloud partner.

As part of this partnership, the 20 BankChain members that include State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, DCB Bank, Kotak Bank, Bank of Baroda, Deutsche Bank and others, will use Microsoft Azure Blockchain as the underlying blockchain platform.

Blockchain is a data structure used to create a digital transaction ledger which, instead of resting with a single provider, is shared among a distributed network of computers.

"Blockchain is one of the most exciting innovations in the Banking, Financial services and Insurance (BFSI)sector and we at Microsoft are leading this trend by offering the best-in-class Azure Blockchain offering," said Peter Gartenberg, General Manager, Enterprise and Partner Group, Microsoft, in a statement.

Microsoft will work closely with Primechain Technologies, the driving force behind the BankChain consortium, to develop various blockchain use cases.

The first active project is "Primechain-KYC", a permission-based blockchain for integrated and shared Know Your Customer (KYC), anti-money laundering, and countering the financing of terrorism.

"Blockchain technology can help banks improve customer satisfaction, minimise fraud, and maximise efficiency, security, and transparency," added Shinam Arora, CEO, Primechain Technologies.