NEW YORK/LONDON – Thomson Reuters has joined financial innovation firm R3’s partnership to design and apply distributed and shared ledger-inspired technologies to global financial markets.

As a leading source of news and information for professional markets, Thomson Reuters will contribute insights from its work with customers to drive product innovation and transformation in the financial sector using distributed ledger technologies. Becoming a part of R3 is another important step for Thomson Reuters to continue as an active participant in this emerging technology space and as a committed partner to innovate alongside our customers. Thomson Reuters has operated in more than 100 countries for more than 100 years, and brings a wide range of customer perspectives to R3’s collaborative research.

The R3 team of financial industry veterans, technologists and blockchain and cryptocurrency experts collaborate with consortium members on research, experimentation, design and engineering to help advance this technology to meet banking requirements for identity, privacy, security, scalability, interoperability and integration with legacy systems.  

R3 recently unveiled Corda™, its shared ledger platform specifically designed to record, manage and synchronise financial agreements between regulated financial institutions. It is heavily inspired by and captures the benefits of blockchain systems, without the design choices that make blockchains inappropriate for many banking scenarios.

"Thomson Reuters has been collaborating with customers on blockchain and distributed ledger initiatives and powerful proof-of-concept projects for some time now,” said Mark Rodrigues, Managing Director, Strategic Customers & Solutions, Thomson Reuters. “The opportunities afforeded by this emerging technology are enormously exciting for us and for our customers, and our goal with R3 is to collaborate together with the consortium and our customers in these key industry discussions as we shape the future of financial transactions.”

“Our network of members continues to grow and diversify at a rapid rate, and the addition of a major market data and technology provider is another significant milestone for R3,” said David Rutter, CEO, R3. “Distributed and shared ledger-based solutions hold the potential to transform the technology used by financial market participants to execute trades and access market data, and Thomson Reuters’ insight and expertise in this field will be an invaluable asset in our collaborative lab environment.”

Thomson Reuters joins the global network of R3 partners united in its lab environment, the R3 Lab and Research Centre, which has quickly become a center of gravity for collaborative research and testing of distributed and shared-ledger inspired technologies.

About R3

R3 is leading a consortium with over 50 of the world’s largest financial institutions to develop ground-breaking commercial applications for the financial services industry that leverage the appropriate elements of distributed and shared ledger technology.

Operating in New York, London and San Francisco, the R3 team is made up of financial industry veterans, technologists, and new tech entrepreneurs, bringing together expertise from electronic financial markets, cryptography and digital currencies. 

The R3 Lab and Research Centre has quickly become a centre of gravity for collaborative research and testing of distributed and shared-ledger inspired technologies, and is where R3 works with its partners to define, design and deliver the next generation of financial infrastructure.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of news and information for professional markets. Our customers rely on us to deliver the intelligence, technology and expertise they need to find trusted answers. The business has operated in more than 100 countries for more than 100 years. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges. For more information, visit www.thomsonreuters.com.

CONTACT

Brian Bertsch
Thomson Reuters
Tel: +1 646 223 5985
Email: brian.bertsch@thomsonreuters.com 

Nick Warren/Ellie McFatridge
Chatsworth Communications
Tel: +44 (0)207 440 9780
Email: contact@chatsworthcommunications.com 

Charley Cooper
R3
Tel: +1 917 855 8529
Email: charley@r3cev.com