SBI Ripple Asia Co., Ltd. and SBI Remit Co., Ltd., an international money transfer service business operator announced that the companies have started the first Japan-Vietnam money transfer service in real currency utilizing DLT, with a Vietnamese bank, Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank.

Adoption of RippleNet, enables the real-time and low-cost transfer of funds between SBI Remit and Tien Phong Bank. Remittance is playing an increasingly important role in the South East Asian economy, in fact, remittance accounts for 6.6% of Vietnam’s GDP.

Yoshitaka Kitao, Representative of the SBI Group, stated as follows:

“The booming Vietnamese economy is one of the most attractive markets around the world. TPBank, which the SBI Group has invested in, in 2009 and owns a 19.9% share of, has achieved steady accumulation of loans and non-interest income such as settlement services, by actively utilizing cutting edge technologies.

The adoption of RippleNet will further differentiate the company from its competitors. We will also develop remittance services that incorporates crypto-assets in the future.”

Nguyen Hung, CEO of Tien Phong Bank, stated as follows:

“Our cooperation with SBI Ripple Asia Co., Ltd on the application of blockchain technology in cross border money transfers marks an important turning point in enhancing our customer experience and makes international money transfers via TPBank faster, more convenient and safer than ever before.’

Ripple has been doubling down on their efforts within the Asia Pacific region, they recently made similar arrangements with Malaysia second largest bank CIMB and remittance startup MoneyMatch. The company has also been seen aggressively recruiting new talent, earlier this year they shared that they will be doubling their Singapore workforce.

Featured image edited based on photo by Peter Nguyen and photo by Manuel Cosentino via Unsplash