SBI to Launch Ripple-Powered Payment App in Autumn

In a bid to foster smooth, fast, and convenient transactions for customers, SBI Holdings, Japan’s largest financial institution, has announced plans to launch its mobile payment application in autumn.

The new offering will come under a joint venture owned by SBI and Ripple Technologies, hence the name – SBI Ripple Asia.

An announcement was made on Wednesday by the CEO of SBI Ripple Asia, Takashi Okita, on his official twitter handle. The move would see SBI collaborate with San Francisco-based Ripple to utilize the Ripple blockchain technology in the payment of goods and services on a mobile platform.

The Partners have called the mobile app Moneytap, which will be supported on both Android and iOS devices. Although no date has been released for the official launch of the app, both firms have hinted that the launch is expected to be in Autumn.

“We are proud to leverage Ripple’s blockchain technology through our new mobile app, MoneyTap, to improve the payments infrastructure in Japan,” said Okita.

Ripple Powered Domestic Payments Will Boost Transaction Speed and Lower Costs

The latest move by SBI Ripple Asia is made to curb the limited time of the traditional banking system in Japan.

Currently, the banking system in Japan is structured to operate from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm on weekdays. This serves as a limitation for customers who would like to transact anytime beyond the stipulated time.

According to Ripple in March, three major banks – Japan’s SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank, and Resona Bank formed a consortium to lead the project. This was done to facilitate the instant payment for goods and services by customers of the banks on 24 hours a day, and seven days a week basis at a very low transaction cost.

At that time, Ripple said the three banks would be the first to use the MoneyTap, after which the app will be rolled out to other members of the SBI consortium which covers over 80 percent of the Japanese banking assets.

“Together with the trust, reliability, and reach of the bank consortium, we can remove friction from payments and create a faster, safer, and more efficient domestic payments experience for our customers,” Okita stated.

More Financial firms to develop blockchain-powered mobile apps

This is not the first time a financial institution will be utilizing Ripple’s technology to aid customers to conduct limitless transactions.

In April, Santander group, a global banking giant, developed a payment app that runs on the ripple blockchain technology, to enable its customers in four countries – Spain, the U.K., Brazil, and Poland.

Do you think other Japanese financial organizations will adopt the SBI newly developed app?

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