The platform, known as Digital Vault, will give investors real-time access to records of securities bought on private markets.

HSBC said it wanted to capitalise on booming interest in such investments by yield-hungry investors. Banks and other financial firms have invested billions of dollars into finding uses for blockchain, a digital ledger that can be instantly and transparently updated.

Few have come up with practical or widely-used applications. Proponents say the blockchain will upend the financial sector by cutting out costly processes or the need for middlemen - though there have been few solid examples yet of such revolutionary use.

The HSBC platform will digitise paper-based records of private placements, using blockchain to reduce the time it takes investors to make checks or queries on holdings.