Digital ledger technology startup Ripple has partnered with SBI Holdings, a Japan-based financial conglomerate, to launch a new company to meet rising demand for cross-border payments in the region.
The new entity, SBI Ripple Asia, will build an engineering and sales force across Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and ASEAN countries to sell and install Ripple’s enterprise solutions for cross-border payments at banks across the region.
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Non-cash payments in Japan, China and South Korea alone topped $45bn in 2013 with overall volume trending upward, according to the 2015 World Payments Report.
Ripple said that it will continue to operate Ripple APAC to service Australia, Singapore and other high-demand growth markets in the region.
SBI Holdings president and CEO of Yoshitaka Kitao said: "Surveying the market, Ripple was the only company that has delivered battle-tested enterprise solutions and global bank customer traction, including commercial deals with top banks already signed in Asia Pacific. Distributed financial technology is undoubtedly transforming financial infrastructure and we’re excited to drive its adoption throughout Asia."
Ripple co-founder and CEO Chris Larsen said: "Interbank payments establish the foundation of the Internet of Value. SBI is the perfect partner to help forge that foundation and then extend Ripple’s capabilities to new use cases in the future."
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By GlobalDataAlso, SBI Holdings and Ripple have agreed to explore working together to list XRP, Ripple’s native digital asset, through its online brokerage properties, including the online trading platform in Japan.
