Ripple said it plans to secure an Australian Financial Services License, or AFSL, through the proposed acquisition of BC Payments Australia Pty Ltd. The deal has not closed yet. If completed, Ripple would be able to offer its full payments stack in Australia, including onboarding, compliance, funding, foreign exchange, liquidity management, and payout through a single integration.
Australia is already part of Ripple’s existing payments footprint in the region. Fiona Murray, managing director for Asia Pacific, said the market is a key one for the company and that an AFSL would strengthen Ripple’s ability to scale Ripple Payments across the region. Current Australian customers using Ripple Payments include Hai Ha Money Transfer, Stables, Caleb & Brown, Flash Payments, and Independent Reserve.
APAC growth lines up with broader payments expansion
Ripple said its APAC payments volume nearly doubled year over year in 2025, though it did not provide exact figures. That update follows the company’s statement last week that it had processed $100 billion in total volume and launched managed custody, virtual account collections, and stablecoin settlement capabilities across 60 markets.
Ripple also said it is taking part in Project Acacia, an initiative led by the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre that focuses on digital asset infrastructure.
Faster route to market depends on deal completion
The structure of the move stands out. Ripple is not applying for an AFSL directly; instead, it is seeking to acquire a company that already holds one. That can shorten the path to market, but the license outcome still depends on the transaction being completed. In the market, XRP traded at $1.38, up 0.3% on the day and 1.7% over the week.