A group of Russian banks have banded together to create a national blockchain consortium to rival the international R3CEV collective.
QIWI Group, Accenture, BINBANK, MDM Bank, Bank Otkritie, and Tinkoff Bank expressed their intention to join the ranks of the new blockchain coaltion on the sidelines of the XXV International Financial Congress in St. Petersburg.
Tinkoff Bank says consortium members will be engaged in joint development and testing of prototypes, information sharing and standardisation along international lines.
Creating and testing the first prototypes are scheduled to begin later this year.
Alexey Blagirev, Bank Otkritie director of innovations, says: "Collaboration with major players in the banking sector and the participation of the regulator will allow us to create and test new approaches, such as joint settlements, simplifying the customer identification procedures."
Elsewhere at the conference, Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina outlined plan to create a new information sharing platform, "akin to a corporate university", for the exchange of news and views on fintech trends and disruptive technologies.
"The banking business is undergoing a rapid new technology-caused transformation as we see the emergence of new areas in the banking business," she says. "Therefore, undoubtedly, both the regulator and the bank community need to be abreast of all recent trends and best business practices. My hope is that the bank community will assist us in developing the agenda for this platform."