MoneyTap, a Ripple-based payment system, is expanding in Japan, with numerous local banks granting their customers access to the program.
SBI Remit, the remittance-focused branch of Japanese financial services group SBI Holdings, said on April 17 that three local institutions, including Yamaguchi Bank, Momiji Bank, and Kitakyushu Bank, now offer its mobile MoneyTap application.
Yamaguchi is a prominent regional bank in Japan, with 156 branches and offices around the country and four foreign locations. Kitakyushu Bank is a subsidiary of Yamaguchi Financial Group and has 24 branches since its inception.
The MoneyTap connection allows Japanese regional banks to provide their clients with a peer-to-peer remittance service through a mobile application. The remittance service, in addition to the bank account number, allows for online transfer using a mobile phone number.
The software also includes online identity verification and biometric identification, with the goal of ensuring high security for Yamaguchi, Momiji, and Kitakyushu clients.
SBI incorporated the mobile MoneyTap settlement service in 2019, as previously reported, shortly after establishing MoneyTap in conjunction with the blockchain startup Ripple in October 2018.
The MoneyTap app, which is based on Ripple’s blockchain system RippleNet, is aimed to allow quick domestic bank-to-bank transfers and peer-to-peer transfers for customers, initially supporting three Japanese banks: SBI Sumishin Net Bank, Suruga Bank, and Resona Bank.
