Saudi British Bank (SAAB), which is majority owned by financial giant HSBC, has officially launched an instant-cross border payment system powered by Ripple.
The Indian Rupee is the first currency to be made available on the platform. The bank’s deputy managing director of corporate and institutional banking, Majed Najm, says the implementation is a big win for customers as it increases the speed and transparency of cross-border transactions.
“SABB provides its customers with faster, safer and more transparent cross-border payment services by the launch of blockchain technology through Ripple.
The Indian Rupee (INR) is a positive start to an upcoming roadmap being the first currency to be activated in SABB. This plan aims to provide customers with a valuable service and link more countries and currencies in the near future.”
The Saudi British Bank (SABB) is one of three banks with the go-ahead from its country’s central bank to use Ripple’s technology.
SABB has not specified which of Ripple’s cross-border payment solutions it is utilizing. The bank is likely to be powering payments with Ripple’s xCurrent and not xRapid which utilizes the digital asset XRP. Ripple launched xRapid late last year and is still rolling out the product, while xCurrent is more widely adopted and accepted by regulators.
A recent World Bank report shows India had the world’s most remittance recipients with $79 billion in 2018. Between 2016 and 2017, 11.6% of India’s remittance payments came from Saudi Arabia, figure that has grown to 22.9% in 2018, reports Arab News.
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