The consortium of 61 banks, led by SBI Ripple Asia, represents more than 80 percent of all banking assets in Japan, according to Ripple. Takashi Okita, CEO of SBI Ripple Asia, said in Ripple's blog post:
"Together with the confidence, reliability and scope of the banking consortium, we can eliminate the friction of payments and create a faster, safer and more efficient national payment experience for our customers."
Three of the consortium's banks, SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank and Resona Bank, will start using the application in the fall, while the rest will be gradually merged.
Ripple has focused on establishing relationships with banks to use their payment technologies. In February, ripple announced two new financial services associations; one with Saudi Arabia's Monetary Authority for the use of its cross-border payment technology for banks within the country and another with Western Union, which is testing the settlement system based on Ripple's Blockchain for transactions.
I don't like Ripple but i have to accept they're working very well.