Japan’s SBI Group and Ripple Join to Provide International Remittance Services in Three Countries

SBI Remit, a subsidiary of Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Group, has partnered with SBI Ripple Asia to introduce Ripple’s XRP-enabled international remittance solution to bank accounts in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The company’s expansion to Southeast Asian markets aims to streamline international payments using the crypto asset XRP as a “bridge currency,” allowing for quick and low-cost money remittances.

Per a company release on Wednesday, SBI Remit will process customer remittance requests in real time. The dynamic approach is established through a strategic alliance with Tranglo Pte. Ltd., a long-term Ripple partner.

“It has excellent scalability, allowing users to easily send money to Ripple’s partners around the world, and we believe this will lead to stronger competitiveness in the international remittance business.”

Since 2017, SBI Remit has been using Ripple’s payment solutions for international money transfers. In a significant move in 2021, it introduced a crypto solution powered by Ripple, making it the first international remittance service in Japan to employ XRP as an intermediary currency between two legal currencies to crypto wallets in the Philippines, the release further noted.

“This time, we will expand the range of international remittance services using this XRP to bank accounts in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia,” the company said. “In these countries, the share of remittances sent to bank accounts is high, and we expect the introduction of this service to accelerate in the future.”

Why Target High-Volume Remittance Destinations in Southeast Asia?

The Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia were chosen due to their high proportion of remittances to bank accounts. Per a World Bank report, in 2022, the largest recipients of remittance flows were the Philippines ($38 billion) and Vietnam ($13 billion), after China.

In April, three Japanese banks – Yamaguchi Bank, Momiji Bank, and Kitakyushu Bank – onboarded the Ripple-based payment system MoneyTap to tap its popular blockchain solution for international payments and peer-to-peer remittance.

“Going forward, through partnerships with Ripple and other fintech companies, SBI Remit will strive to increase the number of countries where remittance is possible and expand services with a view to corporate transactions and inbound transactions,” SBI Holdings chairman and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao, added.