Two Japanese firms turn to Ripple (XRP) tech to power remittances
A subsidiary of SBI has partnered with a local firm to utilize Ripple for remittances.
SBI Remit, a subsidiary of Japanese financial and services conglomerate SBI, and Hamamatsu Iwata Credit Bank, a regional credit union, will soon use Ripple for powering remittance services.
The service is slated to start July 12 and will utilize the RippleNet, a proprietary distributed ledger technology with transaction times of two seconds and fees of a few cents.
“Our mission is to provide financial services centered on remittances to foreign residents, and we use Ripple’s distributed ledger technology, which is characterized by speed of deposit and low fees,” the firms said in a release yesterday.
!! SBI signed agreement with Hamamatsu Iwata Bank to use @Ripple net Tech for International Money Transfer Service Business starting July 12. SBI's mission is to provide financial services centered on remittances to foreign residents in 12 languages. 1/2 https://t.co/hNUimaXShg
— CryptoEri 120K+ Followers (beware of imposters) (@sentosumosaba) June 30, 2021
Why Ripple?
The release pointed out the adverse effects (to business and financial services) from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as a key reason for the Ripple onboarding.
“Immigration restrictions continue due to the recent spread of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) worldwide, but the Japanese government is expected to gradually relax the immigration restrictions in view of the infection situation,” the release read, adding:
“Therefore, international remittance needs are expected to increase in the medium to long term.”
It further pointed out that in Shizuoka Prefecture, where the Hamamatsu Iwata Credit Bank is located, the manufacturing industry accounts for one-third of the prefecture’s total production value and employs many foreign workers, many of whom send back money to their home countries.