R3's first blockchain lab in Asia officially opens in Singapore, supported by the country's central bank

Financial innovation company R3 has partnered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to establish R3’s first distributed ledger technology (DLT) center in Asia, continuing to expand its presence in Asia.

As Singapore's central bank and financial regulator, MAS will support the development of R3's Asian lab to promote the region's competing traditional institutions to collaborate on use cases and projects to innovate and further enhance distributed ledger technology. According to the cooperation statement, the solutions brought by this technology are aimed at fundamentally improving efficiency, transparency and reducing costs for financial institutions and ultimately commercializing them in global capital markets.

The R3 Asia Lab will serve as a dedicated R&D center and physical center of excellence. By positioning itself at the epicenter of financial services in Asia, R3 will be able to effectively support its regional members, maintain local client relationships, and stimulate technology development to complement the work being done at R3’s global labs and research centers.

The lab will be located at Lattice80 in Singapore’s Central Business District (CBD), and its senior staff will be made up of a team of business and technical experts, including academic interns and local technical staff seconded from R3 blockchain consortium members.

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Financial Technology Officer at MAS said:

“Real products emerging from fundamental research in distributed ledgers and blockchain are beginning to become a reality. MAS is pleased to collaborate with a wide range of domestic and international financial institutions and consortiums such as R3 to co-create and conduct rigorous experimentation.”

Tim Grant, CEO of R3 Labs and Research Centre and member of the MAS International Technology Advisory Committee, said:

“We are honored to be partnering with MAS as it demonstrates our strong support for Singapore’s emergence as a major global financial technology hub. We look forward to deepening our partnership with local financial services firms, regulatory bodies and the higher education community, connecting the region through Singapore to our many other projects around the world.”

David Rutter, CEO of R3 Group, added:

“As a major global financial technology hub and a key full financial centre, Singapore is an ideal location for our Asia Lab. We are honoured to have the support of MAS and look forward to working even more closely as we continue to research and develop applications that can help regulators and financial institutions achieve greater efficiency, transparency and reduce costs.”