Leading global banks have teamed up to establish the first interbank group for global payments based on distributed financial technology, called as the Global Payments Steering Group (GPSG).

Founding member banks of the organization, which includes Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Santander, UniCredit, Standard Chartered, Westpac Banking Corporation, and Royal Bank of Canada, are working with Ripple, the global provider of financial settlement solutions, in an effort to substantially reduce the time and cost of settlement while enabling new types of high-volume, low-value global transactions. According to the official announcement, Canada-based financial institution CIBC will also join the GPSG as a new member.

Through this initiative, these member banks are laying the foundation for a modern payments network underpinned by Ripple’s solutions and supported by rules and governance for global settlement.

“The creation of GPSG is significant because this represents the first time that major banks have formulated policies to govern the transfer of money across borders using blockchain,” said Donald Donahue, Chairman of GPSG and former President & CEO of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).

The GPSG will oversee the creation and maintenance of Ripple payment transaction rules, formalized standards for activity using Ripple, and other actions to support the implementation of Ripple payment capabilities.

“Today, people expect money to move at the speed of the Internet. That’s why we’re working with these top banks to address the need for faster cross-border payments,” said Ripple CEO and co-founder Chris Larsen. “The work of GPSG, a new global interbank network, will give financial institutions and their customers the ability to make new types of payments at mass scale.”

Ripple recently announced the completion of a $55 million Series B financing round, drawing support from Standard Chartered, Accenture Ventures, and SCB Digital Ventures, among others. Its global network currently includes 15 of the top 50 global banks, 10 banks in commercial deal phases, and over 30 bank pilots completed.