Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Takes 14% Stake in SBI R3 Japan

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. has purchased a 14 per cent stake in the joint venture between SBI Holdings and blockchain technology provider R3 Holdo LLC, SBI R3 Japan Co., Ltd.

In a statement from SBI Holdings today, the company revealed that the joint venture has signed a Share Purchase Agreement and completed the transfer of 14 per cent of its company shares to Sumitomo Mitsui.

Sumitomo Mitsui is a Japanese multinational banking and financial services institution headquartered in Tokyo. Following the transfer, SBI Holdings now has a 51 per cent in the joint venture, R3 retains a 35 per cent stake and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group now has 14 per cent.

As Finance Magnates reported, when the joint venture first launched at the beginning of the year in January, SBI Holdings had an investment ratio of 60 per cent in the company and R3 contributed 40 per cent. The company commenced operations in April of 2019.

Investment to further SBI R3 Japan reach

In the statement published today, SBI highlighted that the investment by the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will allow the joint venture to promote the use of distributed ledger technology platforms in various fields of business.

A member of the SMBC Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, has been working together with R3, as US-based firm, and TradeIX from the United Kingdom in the Marco Polo project. 

The Marco Polo project focuses on creating trade and working capital finance powered by open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and Corda blockchain technology.

The main focus of SBI R3 is to support the provision and introduction of the Corda licence. In addition to the focus on the Corda licence, the joint venture will also arrange schemes for the use of the Corda license before it is introduced, as well as promote collaboration with R3’s overseas offices and other Corda partners.