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Blockchain Consortium R3 Sees its First Chinese Member

Last Updated
Samburaj Das
Last Updated

The banking- and finance-centric blockchain consortium led by New York-based startup R3 will now include its first ever Chinese member, the Ping An Financial Services Group.

China’s second largest insurer, the Ping An Group  has become the first Chinese member of the global banking blockchain consortium led by fintech startup R3.

The R3-led blockchain effort was notable in its lack of Chinese members, until now. Ping An is the largest non-state-owned financial entity in China, with assets over $765 billion. The financial group has its footprint across different sectors including insurance, banking, securities, trust, asset management and Internet finance. Ping An is also the 12th largest financial institution in the world, by market cap.

In a statement, R3 CEO David Rutter said:

The addition of Ping An is another important milestone for R3 as we develop our member network to represent the interests of banks and financial institutions operating in markets around the globe.

The Chinese financial group joins others from Asia in collaborating with over 40 of the world’s biggest banks and financial institutions to research and experiment with blockchain technology. Other Asia-based financial institutions that are already a part of R3 include Japan’s SBI Holdings  and South Korean banking holding firm Hana Financial.

Jessica Tan, COO at Ping An Group stated:

Ping An Group has always been at the forefront of using technology and innovation in its banking, insurance, investment and internet businesses. We are excited about joining R3 and look forward to developing and using blockchain technology to create a more efficient way of managing financial assets digitally end-to-end.”

Ping An joins Itaú Unibanco as the most recent members of the R3-led private blockchain consortium. The latter became the first Latin American bank to become an R3 member in April 2016.

Featured image from Shutterstock.