R3’s distributed ledger initiative grows to 42 bank members and looks to extend reach to the broader financial services community

Next phase of engagement to start in January and focus on non-bank institutions

December 17, 2015 (New York/San Francisco/London) – Financial innovation company R3 has concluded its distributed ledger bank membership round with the addition of 12 new banks, bringing the total number to 42.  Since its September launch, the company has seen a groundswell of interest in the consortium from financial services companies around the world.  

Having built a network that includes most of the world’s major global banks, and with the window for the admission of new bank members having closed under the consortium’s formative agreement, R3 will now focus efforts on broader engagement with a diverse range of institutions outside of the banking industry.  As part of that initiative, R3 is considering options for participation in the consortium by various categories of non-bank institutions after the first of the year. 

R3’s distributed ledger initiative adds 13 additional bank members

Initiative to advance state-of-the-art technology in global financial markets now comprises 22 banks

September 29, 2015 (New York/San Francisco/London) – Financial innovation firm R3 today announced that an additional 13 of the world’s leading banks have joined its partnership to design and apply distributed ledger technologies to global financial markets.  The news comes two weeks after R3 and nine initial member banks publicly announced the formation of their distributed ledger initiative.  

This addition, which takes the total number of banks collaborating on the project to 22, includes Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Citi, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, National Australia Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, SEB, Societe Generale and Toronto-Dominion Bank.

These institutions will join Barclays, BBVA, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, State Street and UBS in developing commercial applications for this emerging technology in the global financial services industry. The project will also seek to establish consistent standards and protocols for the technology in order to facilitate broader adoption and gain a network effect.

Coindesk: Report Highlights 'Areas of Concern' in Ripple Protocol Design

A report commissioned by secretive distributed ledger consulting group R3CEV and authored by bitcoin developer Peter Todd has raised questions about the ability of the Ripple protocol to serve the needs of global financial institutions in its current iteration...While concerns were raised, however, the report was viewed by some contributors as "the first serious, non-malicious attempt at pointing out perceived weaknesses in the system".

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Coindesk: Inside R3CEV's Plot to Bring Distributed Ledgers to Wall Street

Originally published July 21st, 2015

About a year ago, R3CEV founder David Rutter and partner Todd McDonald traveled to California to survey the growing landscape of digital currency startups for potential investment opportunities. After days of meeting with numerous companies – in addition to back-and-forth trips on the highway – Rutter says that he had a moment of deja vu.

“I had seen it before where a lot of money – a lot of California-based venture money – was being thrown at PowerPoints and half-baked ideas about how this new technology was going to change finance as we know it," he recalled.

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Bloomberg: LiquidityEdge Wants to Help Little Guy in U.S. Treasuries Market

Originally published June 24, 2015

The firm plans to allow dealers and investors to stream live prices to counterparts whose identities are known to each other in order to provide a better trading environment, Rutter said in an interview.

“There’s an under-served part of the market such as regional dealers and smaller brokers that find it very expensive and difficult to keep up technologically with larger dealers and faster traders,” said Rutter, who was chief executive officer of ICAP’s electronic broking unit. “To compete effectively on BrokerTec or ESpeed, these smaller brokers have to make a very significant investment.”

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NYT: Bitcoin Technology Piques Wall Street Interest

Originally published August 28th, 2015

One of the most advanced of those conversations has been coordinated by a start-up known as R3Cev that is led by a former Wall Street executive, David E. Rutter. R3Cev has put together models for how banks could trade foreign currencies on a communally maintained spreadsheet like the blockchain, according to people briefed on the project. It was R3Cev that convened the April meeting at Bank of America, which was attended by more than 75 people from 15 financial institutions, these people said.

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