Itaú, a Brazil-based private sector bank, has announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with the international innovation firm R3 for developing solutions from Blockchain-based distributed ledger technologies.

“We have joined the R3 consortium in order to contribute to the international drive for development and implementation of innovative solutions based on distributed ledger technology”, says Márcio Schettini, general director for Technology and Operations at Itaú. “We are anxious to operate together with R3 and other financial institutions in Latin America to expand the benefits that distributed ledger technology offers”.

With this agreement, Itaú has become the first company in Latin America to join the R3 blockchain consortium, which consists of over 40 of the largest financial institutions including Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, UBS and many more. 

Itaú is the largest Latin American private sector bank, with approximately 96,000 employees and operations in 20 countries throughout the Americas, Asia and Europe. It offers a range of services and products serving the most varied client profile – both individuals and companies of all sizes, from major transnational groups to local micro-entrepreneurs. In Brazil, Itaú has nearly 5,000 full-service branches and 28,000 ATMs.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Itaú Unibanco to expand our global network of partners in Latin America. Distributed ledger technology has the potential to break down geographic barriers and to unite these counterparties worldwide in a more efficient, secure and transparent financial structure. Itaú will be an important partner for R3 as representative for the region”, said David Rutter, CEO of R3.

R3 blockchain consortium startup announced it successfully concluded its distributed ledger bank membership round in December and suggested that it plans on broader engagement with a diverse range of institutions outside of the banking industry. Last month, the consortium started accepting applications for new partners as part of a second round of engagements. SBI Holdings, Inc. was the first to sign on, followed by Hana Financial Group, one of the largest bank holding companies in Korea.

The teams at R3 include veterans from the financial sector together with Blockchain and cryptocurrency specialists. These professionals collaborate with partner companies in the consortium in research, experimentation, design and product engineering for advancing distributed ledger technology. This collaboration takes into consideration the idiosyncrasies of the banking systems in terms of identification, privacy, security, scale, interoperability and integration with legacy systems.