Ripple’s Ex-CEO Joins HSBC Tech Group

The former CEO of blockchain FinTech firm Ripple has found a new position.

Chris Larsen, who announced in November that he would leave his position at Ripple, has joined HSBC on its technology advisory board, itself a new group of experts announced only days ago to help the financial institution develop its IT strategy and explore FinTech and cybercrime innovation.

Other members of the board include Token CEO Steve Kirsch, Spark Capital and Silicon Valley Venture Capital General Partner Megan Quinn and eBay chief scientist Dr. Kira Radinsky, among others.

“The Technology Advisory Board is key to helping us adopt technology that makes HSBC simpler, better and faster for our 46 million customers and 250,000 colleagues across our global network,” said HSBC COO Andy Maguire, who will chair the board’s meetings, in a statement Tuesday (Jan. 17). “We have also established tech labs in the U.K., India and China and signed partnerships with leading organizations including the Alan Turing Institute in London and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited.”

In another statement, Maguire noted that the group will build on HSBC’s existing progress made in areas like biometrics and blockchain-based trade finance. Reports said Ripple’s Larsen, who still serves as the blockchain firm’s executive chairman, will offer his expertise on blockchain at HSBC.

HSBC is part of the R3 blockchain consortium, reports noted, and participated in the development of several proofs of concept to use blockchain technology for various financial services. The bank is also a part of the Digital Trade Chain project, which focuses its blockchain exploration on the trade finance industry.