China Merchants Bank joins R3 blockchain consortium, becoming the second Chinese financial company to join after Ping An Insurance

China Merchants Bank has joined the R3 blockchain consortium, becoming the latest Asian bank to join the alliance.

China Merchants Bank, a commercial bank founded in the 1980s, is the second Chinese financial company to join the R3 project. In June this year, Chinese insurance giant Ping An Insurance announced that it had joined the R3 blockchain alliance, marking the organization's growing interest in the Asian region.

China Merchants Bank, which claims to have assets of more than ¥2.6 trillion (about $390 billion), has offices both at home and abroad, including one in New York, where R3 is headquartered.

In a statement, China Merchants Bank IT General Manager Zhou Tianhong expressed his enthusiasm for the project, saying he believed blockchain technology had "huge potential" in the financial industry.

He also said:

“We look forward to working with R3 to deliver the innovation needed to improve a range of financial services and processes.”