He brings almost two decades of leadership experience in the banking and finance sectors to the global payments firm, which sees Asia Pacific as an increasingly important market.

Ripple has appointed Kelvin Lee as its head of Southeast Asia operations, a role in which he will oversee the firm's expansion in the region, and spearhead efforts to drive the growth of its customer base, the firm announced in a statement on Wednesday.

Lee previously held senior executive positions at companies including Mastercard, Visa, and FIS. His leadership experience spans Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, in sectors like financial payments, fraud and risk management, data solutions and online mobile banking solutions.

«We want to enable money to flow across borders as quickly as data does, by empowering players in the remittance and money transfer market,» Lee said about the appointment and the firm's growth plans.

Growth Opportunity

Ripple operates a blockchain-powered real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network.

In an interview with finews.asia in November 2019, its senior vice president of global operations, Eric van Miltenburg, said the firm is committed to investing in Singapore and the region, and that the advent and growth of digital banking in the region is an opportunity for Ripple to grow.

Among the firm's customers in the region are Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand, CIMB in Malaysia, and Nium, formerly known as InstaReM, in Singapore.