U.S.-based R3 Consulting Group, Inc. announced Tuesday that Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank are among a collection of 13 global banks that are joining an effort to design and apply the technology that underpins virtual currencies such as Bitcoin to mainstream financial markets.
Proponents hope that distributed ledger technology will be employed to make transactions more secure, and more efficient. An initial group of nine global financial firms launched the initiative a couple of weeks ago.
Along with the two Canadian firms, the new additions include Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Citi, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, National Australia Bank, SEB, and Societe Generale. The original group of institutions includes Barclays, BBVA, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, State Street and UBS.
The project aims to develop commercial applications for distributed ledger technology in the global financial services industry; and, it will also try to establish consistent standards and protocols for the technology.
Earlier this year, the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade & Commerce issued a report indicating that this sort of technology holds great promise for reforming financial markets, and that policymakers should resist regulation to avoid stifling its development.