Ripple Partner SBI Remit Debuts International Money Transfer Services With Shonan Shinkin Bank

SBI Remit, a money transfer service that utilizes the Ripple payment solution, has partnered with a Japanese credit union to make international transfers cheaper and faster.

Long-standing Ripple partner SBI Remit has expanded its footprint in Japan. On Thursday, SBI Remit’s parent company, SBI Group, announced that the company has partnered with Japan’s Shonan Shinkin Bank for an international remittance service.

Shonan Shinkin Bank operates Shonan Credit Safe, a 99-year-old credit union that allows foreign workers residing in Japan to receive and transfer payments to relatives back home. The union also services corporations, providing deposits and loan services.

However, the latest partnership between SBI Remit and Shonan Shinkin Bank focuses on helping foreign workers send remittances. The official announcement acknowledges a significant increase in the need for foreign workers in the regions where Shonan Shinkin Bank operates, especially the industrialized Kanagawa Prefecture region.

Kanagawa Prefecture is the 4th largest area with foreign workers in Japan, with the number of employees reaching a new high. The growing number of companies launching in the region and the acceptance needs of foreign workers make the partnership with SBI Remit ideal for Shonan Shinkin Bank.

New Remittance Service to Use Ripple’s Technology

The new partnership between SBI Remit and Shonan Shinkin Bank will incorporate “the latest financial technologies, such as Ripple’s distributed ledger technology,” SBI Group stated in its announcement. Leveraging the solution allows the new partners to provide highly convenient, low-cost, and fast payment remittance services to foreign nationals in Japan.

Meanwhile, the latest development marks another landmark in Ripple’s partnership with SBI, which has been in place since 2016. Both companies had established SBI Ripple Asia, a joint venture that explores the use of XRP for international payments.

In a related development, SBI recently showcased the use of XRP for on-demand liquidity (ODL) remittances in Japan and the Philippines. The Ripple-developed solution would drastically reduce international transfer timelines from days to mere minutes.

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