HONG KONG, 1 June 2016 – AIA Group, the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group, has joined R3, the financial innovation firm partnership. R3 is designing and applying distributed and shared ledger-inspired technologies to global financial markets.

 

AIA will be collaborating with 50 of the world’s largest financial institutions to develop groundbreaking commercial applications for the financial services industry that leverage the appropriate elements of distributed and shared ledger technology.

 

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.

 

Simeon Preston, AIA’s Group Chief Operations Officer, commented: “AIA is excited to join R3 as the first pan-Asian life insurer, as distributed ledger technology or blockchain offers significant opportunities to the life and health insurance industry. R3 provides us the possibility to understand together with other leading global organisations in financial services the potential applications of blockchain technology around the world and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. We look forward to taking a leadership role in exploring how this technology might result in increased efficiency and improved service for our customers.”

 

David Rutter, CEO of R3, commented: “The addition of AIA represents another step in the diversification of our growing member network. By collaborating with a broad range of non-bank institutions in addition to our extensive banking partners we will ensure the technology being developed in our lab represents the different interests and requirements of the vast array of players in the global financial ecosystem.”

 

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

 

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About AIA

 

AIA Group Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively “AIA” or the “Group”) comprise the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group. It has a presence in 18 markets in Asia-Pacific – whollyowned branches and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Macau, Brunei, a 97 per cent subsidiary in Sri Lanka, a 49 per cent joint venture in India and a representative office in Myanmar and Cambodia.

 

The business that is now AIA was first established in Shanghai almost a century ago. It is a market leader in the Asia-Pacific region (ex-Japan) based on life insurance premiums and holds leading positions across the majority of its markets. It had total assets of US$168 billion as of 30 November 2015.

 

AIA meets the long-term savings and protection needs of individuals by offering a range of products and services including life insurance, accident and health insurance and savings plans. The Group also provides employee benefits, credit life and pension services to corporate clients. Through an extensive network of agents, partners and employees across Asia-Pacific, AIA serves the holders of more than 29 million individual policies and over 16 million participating members of group insurance schemes.

 

AIA Group Limited is listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited under the stock code “1299” with American Depositary Receipts (Level 1) traded on the over-the-counter market (ticker symbol: “AAGIY”).

 

About R3

 

R3 is leading a consortium with over 50 of the world’s largest financial institutions to develop groundbreaking 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.

AIA
Stephen Thomas	+852 2832 6178	Stephen.Thomas@aia.com
Emerald Ng	+852 2832 4720	Emerald.Ng@aia.com