ING announces that it has joined a consortium of 30 leading global banks, coordinated by the financial technology firm R3, to collaboratively evaluate and apply emerging block chain technology to the global financial system. The stated goals of the group are to collaborate on research, design, and engineering that will advance innovative solutions for clients that meet banking requirements for security, reliability, performance, scalability, and auditing.
Mark Buitenhek, ING Global Head of Transaction Services commented, “We are very excited about joining the R3 consortium and taking an important step forward in our payments innovation strategy. We want to make the most of what block chain technology has to offer our customers and the best way to achieve this is through global collaboration. Working together, we will develop innovative banking solutions for our clients with consistent standards and protocols guaranteeing widespread adoption. We are convinced that this initiative brings together unique sets of expertise and experience in electronic financial markets, distributed ledgers and block chain technologies.”