Itaú Unibanco becomes the first Latin American member of R3 as it has signed a partnership with the consortium to develop banking solutions based on the distributed ledger technology.

Blockchain makes new business models possible and allows for more agility, efficiency and traceability of transactions, says Itaú’s press release published by Finextra. According to Márcio Schettini, Itaú’s Director-General for Technology and Operations, adopting blockchain means being on the cutting edge of progress and can be useful not just for the banking system but for its customers as well:

“We have joined the R3 consortium in order to contribute to the international drive for development and implementation of innovative solutions based on distributed ledger technology. We are convinced that these innovations will bring benefits to our customers and real gains in efficiency for the sector as a whole.”

The R3 consortium was created in September 2015 when Barclays, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and others – total nine of the world’s largest banks – formed a partnership to investigate blockchain, apply the technology to interbank communications and trading process and develop blockchain-based solutions for the global financial industry.

In March 2016, R3 announced the completion of the trial of five cloud-based blockchain solutions. They were successfully tested by all the banks participating in the consortium. In April, the consortium presented Corda, a new technology for financial institutions different from blockchain, which it has been working on for the last 6 months.

New banks have been joining the consortium including such giants as HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Société Générale and Mitsubishi UFJ. The accession of Itaú Unibanco brings the total number of R3 members to 45.

The São Paolo-based company, being the largest private sector bank in Latin America, is a valuable asset for R3. To put it in the words of David Rutter, CEO of the consortium:

“It is a pleasure to welcome Itaú Unibanco to expand our global network of partners in Latin America. Distributed ledger technology has the potential to break down geographic barriers and to unite these counterparties worldwide in a more efficient, secure and transparent financial structure. Itaú will be an important partner for R3 as representative for the region.”

Alexey Tereshchenko