MUFG banking arm, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, has announced a strategic partnership with the interbank global payments group of San Francisco-based venture fintech company, Ripple.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is joining forces with Ripple’s Global Payments Steering Group (GPSG) to support the implementation of its payment capabilities.

Banks including Westpac, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and CIBC are also working with the GPSG, with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi the first Asian bank selected to utilise its payments capability offerings.

As part of the collaboration, the GPSG would oversee the maintenance of Ripple payment transaction rules and standards, as well as the full scale implementation of Ripple’s payments capabilities for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

MUFG had placed the partnership as a step forward within its agenda to incorporate fintech technologies into banking experiences to improve the customer journey with the banking group, and contribute to the evolution of financial services across Japan and the wider Asian region.