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SBI Remit and Tottori Bank are launching international money transfer services on April 20, extending the presence of Ripple-linked infrastructure in Japan’s remittance market, according to XRP-focused observers.
The rollout is described as the 26th collaboration between SBI Remit and a financial institution. While SBI Remit’s own press materials reference Ripple’s distributed ledger technology as part of its service stack, they do not explicitly state that XRP will be used in the April 20 launch.
SBI Remit said that since its founding in 2010, it has “actively incorporates the latest financial technologies, such as Ripple’s distributed ledger technology” to support secure, low-cost and fast international remittances.
The partnership is aimed at a growing foreign workforce in Tottori Prefecture and the financial institutions serving them. SBI Remit said both the number of foreign workers and the number of businesses employing them have risen to record highs in the prefecture, increasing the need for reliable cross-border payments for workers sending money home and for local employers supporting them.
SBI Remit also described customer expectations shifting toward speed, convenience and always-on access, adding that foreign customers increasingly require services that are fast, low-cost, available 24/7, and can be initiated via apps. It said services should also support diversified receiving methods, including the expansion of e-wallets in the recipient country.
With more foreign workers, SBI Remit said regional financial institutions face increased requests from companies to open salary deposit accounts. After accounts are provided, institutions are also required to handle additional customer management tasks, including residence permit expiration dates and return information.
In response, SBI Remit said it offers an integrated service combining “remittances to hometown” and “salary deposit accounts” for foreign residents, supported by multilingual assistance in 12 languages.
At press time, XRP traded at $1.42.
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