Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation of Japan Invests to Ripple’s MoneyTap

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), the second-largest banking institution in Japan, announced that it had partnered with SBI Holdings to build a Blockchain-based financial service platform. As part of the partnership, the megabank plans to invest in the blockchain-powered payments app, MoneyTap, developed by Ripple and SBI Holdings.

SMBC will invest in a related company under the SBI to spread the distributed ledger services that incorporate trade finance and individual bank remittances.

Megabank, which brings its strong customer base to the table, and Net Securities, which specializes in FinTech, will work together to fast-track efforts.

This comes after Fukushima Bank, and a host of other regional banking institutions decided to integrate the app. MoneyTap allows its users to send money with the help of telephone numbers or QR codes.

Moreover, Sumitomo is investing an undisclosed amount in R3’s Corda, which is expected to give a significant boost to Corda’s adoption in one of the biggest crypto hubs.

Ripple Asia’s Growing Consortium

Since 2017, SMBC joined SBI Ripple Asia, a consortium of banks working on the adoption of Ripple’s remittance solution and behind the development of MoneyTap.

The group of banks had garnered 47 banks just a few months after its take-off. In fact, banks holding more than 80% of Japanese banking assets are already part of the consortium.

The internet bank is now planning to go public and recently become Japan’s first registered and operational internet-only bank with no physical offices.

The internet bank was worth $109 million as of the first quarter of 2019. Therefore, the financial corporation has grown in net worth by around 14.6% from 2018.

About Blockchain-Powered Payments App MoneyTap

The revolutionary smartphone app “MoneyTap” is driven by Ripple’s blockchain and essentially allows clients of the bank consortium to settle transactions instantly, 24 hours a day.

The money transfer service has been widely successful since Ripple launched it in Southeast Asia, constantly adding new banks as participants.

MoneyTap is powered by the xCurrrent platform, facilitating quick money transfers between banks and users. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t allow users to transfer XRP coins.

MoneyTap will soon have the potential to provide on-demand payments to the vast majority of Japan through this consortium.

The service offered by MoneyTap is very crucial since flexibility with domestic payments is limited in Japan: transactions must occur on weekdays and between 8:30 am and 3:30 pm or risk delays.

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