R3 is a consortium of the world’s largest banks, financial institutions, national financial regulatory authorities, trade associations and lenders, united in a single infrastructure based on distributed ledger technology (blockchain). The consortium headquartered in New York currently comprises the largest global financial companies: Bank of America, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Citibank, Morgan Stanley, etc. The R3 consortium members are united by the single Corda platform, which has a number of advantages compared with other similar functional financial systems.
For example, its architecture allows for multiple split-second cross-border transactions, which are confirmed and visible only to the transaction participants; Corda has no single central controller; the platform also allows the participants to independently create internal regulatory and authorization observer nodes, i.e., manage financial obligations between different financial institutions.
«This is a great opportunity to integrate well-known Russian financial institutions and its expertise in the global financial infrastructure that is build on Corda,» says Alexei Blagirev, project lead for CIS region from FintechLab, which is acting as an exclusive partner for R3 in the CIS region.
Alfa-Bank’s membership in the R3 association means another significant step ahead in the blockchain system development for the entire domestic banking sector and in the future will make it possible to offer the customers more convenient and affordable product solutions.Scotiabank was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America (DJSI) last month, recognized for its progress in integrating ESG issues into the business. Scotiabank placed in the top 20% of companies globally, and was one of the largest year-over-year point gainers across the Index itself.
«Joining the R3 blockchain consortium is an important milestone on the path of integration of Alfa-Bank, the first Russian participating bank, and, eventually, the entire Russian banking community into the newest global financial infrastructure,» said Maria Shevchenko, Alfa Bank’s Сhief Operating Officer. «This is an excellent opportunity, together with the leading global market players, to create new financial transaction instruments, as well as to considerably accelerate mutual settlements under transactions and reduce the cost of individual transactions.»
Founded in 1990, Alfa-Bank is a full-service bank operating in most sectors of the financial market, including retail and corporate lending, investment banking, leasing, factoring and trade finance. Alfa-Banking Group is the largest private bank in Russia in terms of total assets, total equity, deposit, and loan portfolios.
According to IFRS financial statements for 2017, the Alfa Banking Group, which comprises ABH Financial, Joint Stock Company «ALFA-BANK» as well as its subsidiary financial companies, had total assets of USD 44.7 bn, gross loans of USD 28.6 bn, and total equity of USD 6.4 bn. Net profit after tax for 2017 amounted to USD 798 mln.
As of December 31, 2017, Alfa-Bank has served more than 420,000 corporate and 14.3 mln retail customers, while the branch network consists of 762 offices in Moscow, across Russia and abroad, including a subsidiary bank in the Netherlands and financial subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Cyprus.
Alfa-Bank is an official European bank of the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ and 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. Since it was founded in 1990, the Bank has been known for supporting charities and large-scale cultural events. Alfa-Bank is also the organizer of the AlfaFuturePeople annual festival of contemporary music and technology.
