BNP Paribas has revealed its securities services division is working on a blockchain platform that would enable retail investors to lend money to businesses via an instrument known as a mini-bond.

According to Financial News, BNP Paribas Securities Services is building a distributed ledger platform that will maintain and record mini-bonds issued through the platform. For the effort, BNP is partnering with French crowdfunding startups Enerflip, Lendosphere and Lumo.

The announcement is the latest that finds the French multinational bank exploring how it could use blockchain to better serve small businesses, following a blockchain-based crowdfunding platform announced in April and an SME lending effort it announced in June along with six other French financial institutions.

In statements to the news source, BNP Paribas Securities Services' Innovation & Digital Lab head of business management Marc Younes said the platform is one that stands to benefit small businesses, while potentially helping standardize mini bond management.

Younes said:

As part of this drive, BNP Paribas revealed earlier this month that it is seeking to engage more of its employees in its blockchain efforts.

For more on its recently unveiled New York innovation lab, CoinDesk's latest feature on BNP Paribas.

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