In the latest sign that the insurance industry is embracing blockchain and distributed ledgers, MetLife has announced it will join banking consortium R3CEV.

With the news, MetLife follows life insurance firm AIA and China's Ping An Insurance as notable members of its industry to join the initiative, launched in September of last year. Other major insurers that have expressed interest in the technology more generally include John Hancock and Allianz France.

In statements, MetLife voiced its enthusiasm for joining the initiative, which has in the past conducted trials with groups of major financial institutions, including those focused on trade finance and commercial paper trading.

"R3's work has proven how blockchain technology can disrupt how business is done today," Marty Lippert, executive vice president and head of MetLife's global technology and operations organization, said.

The announcement comes amid a larger drive by R3 to position its Corda distributed ledger system as a platform for blockchain applications created by financial institutions.