Edmonton-based ATB Financial has signed on to a global effort to develop blockchain technology applications for global financial markets.
ATB has joined the R3 consortium that includes some of the world’s biggest financial firms working on blockchain, or distributed ledger technology (DLT), which proponents believe will help make the plumbing of the global financial system more efficient.
“What excites ATB Financial the most about joining the R3 consortium is having the ability to collaborate with 75 of the world’s largest financial institutions to lead the creation of meaningful solutions that will transform the banking industry of tomorrow,” says Wellington Holbrook, chief transformation officer at ATB, in a statement.
“We are delighted to welcome ATB Financial to our ever-growing network of members in Canada,” adds David Rutter, CEO of R3, in a statement. “Distributed and shared ledger-inspired technology holds the potential to revolutionize the infrastructure used by participants in all financial markets, and we continue to diversify and grow our member base to reflect the interests of sell- and buy-side firms across the globe.”
Elsewhere, the push to develop blockchain-based solutions also took another step on Thursday with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announcing a successful proof-of-concept project to execute domestic interbank payments DLT. That project was completed in partnership with R3 and a handful of global financial services institutions.
The MAS is now planning two spin-off projects: one to utilize DLT in trading and settling fixed-income securities and another to make cross-border payments using central bank digital currency.
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