NAB and 12 other global banks join blockchain conglomerate
(1 October 2015 – Global) An additional thirteen banks from around the world, including NAB, HSBC and Deutsche Bank, have joined a partnership that is working on a framework for using blockchain technology in the financial sector.
The announcement increases the total number of banks involved so far to 22. Previously, nine other banks had already signed up to the initiative.
The other banks announced this week include Citi, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Commerzbank, Societe Generale, SEB, BNY Mellon, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank.
The consortium is being led by technology firm R3, and its CEO David Rutter, who was formerly CEO of electronic trading at ICAP Electronic Trading, one of the world's largest interdealer brokers.
Rutter said in a statement: “The addition of this new group of banks demonstrates widespread support for innovative distributed ledger solutions across the global financial services community, and we’re delighted to have them on board,”
We have placed an emphasis on working with the market from day one, and our partners recognise that a collaborative model is the best way to quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively deliver these new technologies to global financial markets.”
R3's Chief Technology Officer Richard Brown, told Reuters: "Over decades banks and other firms have built systems for themselves ... and then a collection of processes has emerged between the banks ... to make sure these systems are kept synchronised and are reconciled with each other,"
"With shared or distributed ledgers perhaps we can imagine a world where participants share this infrastructure, so rather than everyone running their own systems that have to be reconciled, we can have ... an open platform that multiple firms can connect to."
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