The R3 Consortium is a collection of several dozen financial institutions all over the world looking to explore blockchain technology. But the group continues to expand, and Toyota Financial Services is their latest member. Merging distributed ledgers with automotive financial services will be quite an interesting experiment.
R3 Welcomes Toyota Financial Services
Toyota Financial Services is not your average bank, as the company focuses on automotive financial services. They are also the first player in that particular industry to join the R3 consortium. Leveraging the possibilities of distributed ledger technology is the primary objective of this new partnership.
Chris Ballinger, CFO, and GCO Strategic Innovation told the media:
“Toyota Financial Services is excited to join the R3CEV consortium to advance the use of distributed ledger technology in finance. We believe this technology will ultimately lower costs, increase efficiency and make auto finance more transparent for our customers. Beyond finance, we believe additional applications of the technology in auto manufacturing and sales will benefit our customers by making mobility more affordable and available. TFS welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the development and advancement of the R3 ecosystem.”
It is interesting to see the R3 consortium refer to Toyota Financial Services as a non-bank institution. When the consortium was first created, it appeared as if the world’s major banks were showing a keen interest in distributed ledger technology. R3 CEO David Rutter positions this initiative as a”growing network of non-bank institutions” these days. An interesting choice of words, to say the least.
The role of Toyota Financial Services will come in the form of joining the global network of consortium partners. Moreover, the automotive financial services company will become a part of R3 Lab and Research Centre. Collaborative research and testing of distributed ledgers will always remain the primary objective.
Adding such a valuable partner to the R3 consortium is a significant milestone for the distributed ledger group, though. Toyota Financial Services is the finance and insurance brand for Toyota in the US. Plus, they also handle financial products for Lexus dealers and customers under the Lexus Financial Services umbrella.
Source: Press Release Via Email
Header image courtesy of Toyota Financial Services
