Ripple is to create a joint venture company with Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings to drive the adoption of its distributed ledger technology for cross-border payments across Asian markets.
The new company - SBI Ripple Asia - will build an engineering and sales force across Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Asean countries to sell and install Ripple’s technology stack for cross-border payments at banks across the region. Ripple will continue to operate Ripple APAC to service Australia, Singapore and other high-demand growth markets in the region.
“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,” says president and CEO of SBI Holdings Yoshitaka Kitao. “Distributed financial technology is undoubtedly transforming financial infrastructure and we’re excited to drive its adoption throughout Asia.”
SBI Holdings has a long track record of success building joint ventures with international financial services brands, including E-Loan, E*Trade, MorningStar, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank. The company also holds stakes in 10 financial institutions across Asean, providing a ready-made distribution network for Ripple Connect, the firm's enterprise-grade settlement package.
Ripple co-founder and CEO Chris Larsen, says: “SBI’s deep expertise and relationships across banking, capital markets, insurance and payments will help aggressively scale Ripple in some of the fastest-growing financial markets in the world.”
SBI Holdings and Ripple have also agreed to explore working together to list XRP, Ripple’s native digital currency, through its online brokerage properties, including the largest online trading platform in Japan.