SBI Ripple Asia, a financial services company operating in Japan, recently announced that they will be launching their MoneyTap mobile application soon. The app is powered by Ripple’s technology and is said to let users make payments instantly at any hour of the week.
Reportedly, three members of the Japan banking consortium will be the first to go live on the app, which is slated for launch in autumn of this year. The news of the app comes after the CEO of SBI Ripple Asia, Takashi Okita, tweeted out a link of the new website for the app. He stated [trans.]:
“Quietly, the teaser site of Moneytap was released. How about the image of the logo and the screen?”
This was followed by the link to the Moneytap website, which stated that there was “No charge required” for the application. This implies that the application is free. Moreover, it brands itself as an “easy bank transfer application”, which goes with the description it was given at launch.
After the first 3 banks go live on the app, the rest of the consortium will be rolled out. Notably, the banks to go live on the app are SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Resona Bank and Suruga Bank.
The consortium, which is headed by the SBI Ripple Asia alliance, covers over 80% of all the banking assets in Japan. This, coupled with the fact that Japan’s existing local payment lines are substandard, means that customers are likely to pick up a real-time payments app.
Transactions in Japan can only occur on weekdays between 8:30 and 3:30, with heavy delays otherwise. The app can offer consumers the opportunity to transfer money instantly 24/7, thus marking a sea change over the existing systems.
The app allows payments to be made to bank accounts, phone numbers or a QR code. The app also offers savings on bank fees that are usually levied on ATM and banking fees.
In a statement during the original launch of the product, Okita stated:
“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.”
SBI Ripple is the second Ripple customer to launch an app that utilizes Ripple’s technology to settle payments. Earlier this year, Banco Santander released an app called OnePay FX that let the bank’s customers settle cross-border payments.
Executive Chairman of Santander, Ana Botín stated on Ripple:
“We are covering 50% of all FX payments that Santander does annually. It works really well because we have been testing it for 2 years. Its safe, its compliant.”
The post SBI Ripple Asia all set to launch xCurrent-powered MoneyTap mobile app appeared first on AMBCrypto.
Source: AMBcrypto
Original Post: SBI Ripple Asia all set to launch xCurrent-powered MoneyTap mobile app
