Ripple is working with a consortium of Japanese banks to launch 'MoneyTap' a smartphone application that will enable consumer to make instant domestic payments via a bank account, phone number, or QR code.
SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank and Resona Bank will be the first to go live on the mobile app in autumn of 2018. This will be followed by a staggered roll out to the remaining 58 banks in the SBI Ripple Asia-led consortium.
The new service will bypass domestic payment rails to allow settlement of payment flows over the RippleNet blockchain network, shedding the costs associated with existing banking and ATM fees that are currently applied to domestic money transfers in Japan.
It will also introduce instant round-the-clock settlement of money transfers in a country where transactions are currently processed in a limited window on weekends and between 8.30am and 3.30pm daily.
“We are proud to leverage Ripple’s blockchain technology through our new mobile app, MoneyTap, to improve the payments infrastructure in Japan,” says Takashi Okita, CEO of SBI Ripple Asia. “Together with the trust, reliability and reach of the bank consortium, we can remove friction from payments and create a faster, safer, and more efficient domestic payments experience for our customers.”
Formed in August 2016, SBI Ripple Asia has set its sights on modernising the existing payments system in Japan both domestically and internationally. In December, pilot trials commenced on a system to speed up money transfers between members of the consortium and South Korean banks.