The partnership sees the formation of a new company called SBI Ripple Asia that will serve banks throughout Asia Pacific by providing them with enterprise solutions for cross-border payments. The move comes in response to the growing proliferation of non-cash payments in Asia, with Japan, China and South Korea alone reaching a total volume of over $45 billion in non-cash payments in 2013, according to the 2015 World Payments Report from the Royal Bank of Scotland and Capgemini. SBI Holdings’ President and Chief Executive Officer, Yoshitaka Kitao, said that Ripple’s “global bank customer traction” and existing partnerships with banks in Asia Pacific was a critical factor behind sealing the partnership. “Distributed financial technology is undoubtedly transforming financial infrastructure and we are excited to drive its adoption through Asia,” Kitao said.

http://fst.net.au/news/ripple-unveils-2bn-partnership-sbi