Japanese investor SBI Group revealed that it’s planning new ATM software to be powered by Money Tap, the Japanese payment system based on Ripple distributed ledger technology (DLT). The news came as part of its annual results announcement, as first reported by DailyHodl.
SBI said that currently, each bank has its own ATM app. Its vision is that instead, by using a shared web app the same ATM could be used as a jointly operated multi-bank ATM. If you consider that ATMs are viewed by customers as standard offerings with little competitive advantage, this makes a lot of sense. It’s particularly logical for MoneyTap, which has 35 banking shareholders, many of whom are regional banks.
The ATM would use the Money Tap settlement network, which is an implementation of RippleNet software that does not use Ripple’s coin XRP.
Money Tap was set up to offer a mobile app to enable 24/7 bank-to-bank payments in Japan, where the primary settlement network only operates during banking hours. It also aims to offer cross border remittances.
Despite Money Tap having 35 banking shareholders, just three are live, SBI Sumishin Net Bank, Suruga Bank and Ehime Bank.
Money Tap initially started as an SBI Ripple Asia initiative, the joint venture between the two firms. However, since then, an independent company was set up with the outside banking shareholders.
SBI has a sprawling network of blockchain interests, but of late, its joint venture with R3 has come to the fore. It recently revealed plans for SMBC to invest in SBI R3.
SBI has also previously operated local coin initiatives such as “TOKOWAKA Coin” by Chikuho Bank, which is used in restaurants in Munakata City. Going forward, SBI plans to issue such tokens on R3’s Corda.
As previously reported, it also developed a post-trade foreign exchange settlement system, BCpostrade, based on R3’s Corda enterprise blockchain. It said it was rolling it out in April.
And it looks like there will be plenty of investment going forward. SBI Investment has a “4+5 Fund” which focuses on fintech, AI and blockchain with an emphasis on Society 5.0, Industry 4.0 and 5G. SMBC may invest in this as well in the role of limited partner, and both SMBC and SBI will collaborate with investee startups.
