Shonan Shinkin Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in the cosmopolitan city of Yokosuka, Japan, has partnered with SBI Remit Co., Ltd, an international remittance service provider, to facilitate international money transfer services to foreign residents in Japan. As per the partnership agreement, the services will commence on October 16, 2023, utilizing US Ripple’s distributed ledger technology.
After COVID-19, there has been a drastic recovery in the number of foreign workers in the borders of Japan. As of October 2022, there were over 1.82 million foreign laborers. Owing to the global pandemic, there was a severe decline in the working-age population, causing major issues for the companies of that region.
In Kanagawa Prefecture, the number of organizations employing foreign workers has increased to 19,503, with about 105,973 laborers. This reflects the rising demand for foreign talent in the labor market. After Tokyo, Aichi, and Osaka, Kanagawa Prefecture has the fourth-highest foreign resident population in Japan. The prefecture is also home to many manufacturing businesses, with 61% of the companies employing fewer than 30 people. The need for the presence of foreign workers in small and medium-sized firms is irreplaceable.
Shonan Shinkin Bank is dedicated to achieving financial inclusion through collaboration with national and local government, industry, and academic organizations to address the issue of labor shortage and international remittance services. They have made a strategic decision to partner with SBI Remit to attract foreign laborers and resolve the issues of small and medium-sized businesses by achieving financial inclusion.
Shonan Shinkin Bank stated, “We will continue to put our customers’ needs first and strive to “provide new value” and “realize customer-centricity.” SBI Remit’s mission is to provide highly convenient international remittance services using US Ripple’s distributed ledger technology. The XRP technology facilitated speedy remittance services and customer support in 12 different languages with affordability.
SBI Remit Co., Ltd has recently made a move to collaborate with Ripple to utilize XRP remittance services to three ASEAN countries: the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The decision to use XRP for remittance services is a sign of how cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more accepted as viable methods of money transfers across borders.
