SBI Ripple Asia is a joint-venture company established by Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings and San Francisco-based FinTech startup Ripple. Ripple is to work with financial institutions in South Korea to bring enterprise blockchain solutions for cross-border payments with Japanese banks.

Within a year, the Japanese consortium of banks created by SBI Ripple Asia has grown to 61 banks, including mega-banks Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), MUFG and Mizuho. These banks will use Ripple’s technology for domestic payments and settlement. The firm has now got into a partnership agreement with Dayli Intelligence, a subsidiary of Dayli Financial Group, to facilitate and establish the platform for blockchain solutions and AI-tech infrastructure in South Korea. 

SBI Ripple Asia says the collaboration will seek to facilitate near-instant international retail bank transfers between customers in Japan and South Korea, as well as other global markets, enabling round-the-clock settlement at reduced costs. Available to commercial banking customers, the funds transfer service will enable individual remittances from Japanese Yen to Thai Baht within “two to five seconds”, Ripple revealed.

Takashi Okita, CEO of SBI Ripple Asia, says: “South Korea is one of the most active markets worldwide when it comes to blockchain innovation and trading of digital assets. With trade flows into and out of the country totaling $960 billion every year, we also see a high and growing demand for Ripple’s frictionless payments solution in the country.”