R3, the U.S.-based financial innovation firm, has announced the inclusion of China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), China’s official interbank market trading platform, to its blockchain consortium in a move to design and apply distributed and shared ledger-inspired technologies to global financial markets.

CFETS collaboration with R3 will help develop ground-breaking commercial applications for the financial services industry that leverage the potentials and elements of blockchain technology. Financial industry leaders, blockchain and cryptocurrency experts of the R3 team will collaborate with the members of the consortium on research, experimentation, design and engineering. They will help in leveraging blockchain technology to meet banking requirements for identity, privacy, security, scalability, interoperability and integration with legacy systems, the release stated. 

“Acknowledging the Chinese renminbi’s growing prominence in trading and the crucial role China holds in the global financial markets, we are delighted to welcome CFETS to the R3 consortium. Their expertise will be an enormous asset as we develop universal applications for distributed ledger technology across increasingly globalized financial markets,” David Rutter, CEO of R3 commented.

CFETS, headquartered in Shanghai, offers a series of services that covers issuance, trading, information and post-trade for cash and derivative RMB-denominated interest rate, exchange rate, and related products. The company will join the global network of R3 partners united in its lab environment, the R3 Lab and Research Centre.

“CFETS is committed to establishing technical standards and improving the ecosystem of China interbank market, and we have noticed that blockchain is an emerging technology with great promise to reshape the market.  Through cooperation with R3, we hope to build the infrastructures and platforms for blockchain application in the financial market together with international counterparts,” Zaiyue Xu, Executive Vice President of CFETS said.

The members of the blockchain consortium will work closely with R3 to develop Corda, which is shared ledger platform specifically designed to record, manage and synchronizes financial agreements between regulated financial institutions.