This article confirming that Santander will launch cross boarder payments utilizing Ripple supports this statement Mercator made in 2016 “. . . Ripple appears well positioned to be one of the first blockchain-based companies to move from a limited pilot implementation to shipping a product once the steering group makes the final tweaks to the business model and technology.” Ripple has seen an increasing number of companies and institutions committing to its platform and now Santander:
“It now seems the first major bank to implement this technology is none other than Santander. The UK branch of this global bank will carry out cross-border payments at scale. A remarkable decision few people expected to hear at the International Fintech conference in London.
This international money transfer solution is big news for Ripple. The company has seen the great interest in its xRapid and XCurrent offerings. However, no company or bank has implemented this solution for real-world solutions as of yet. Outside of a few internal tests, no real progress has been madly in this regard. That makes the decision by Santander UK all the more important for the company.
Santander has Always been Confident
The relationship between Santander and Ripple dates back to 2015. At the time, the institution made its first investment in this distributed ledger outfit. One year later, they doubled down on that investment. It quickly became clear Santander had high expectations for Ripple. So far, it seems the company has been right all along. Only time will tell if this integration will be successful, though.
For now, the focus lies on Spain, Brazil, the UK, and Poland. This launch will occur at some point in the next three months. No further specifics have been announced just yet. We do know all transactions will be settled within 24 hours or less. It is a big step up from how cross-border transactions are handled as of right now.
More importantly, this new solution offers unprecedented transparency. Users can figure out the exact transaction cost beforehand, which is rather impressive. For now, we have to wait and see if this new solution will make use of XRP as well. There is no official indication that will effectively be the case, but the details are scarce. Assuming the project is successful, the appeal of Ripple will only continue to increase.”
This follows the announcement last year that American Express and Santander would utilize Ripple to move funds between the US and the UK. In Mercator’s opinion the success of Ripple, and a general requirement for success of any blockchain implementation in a regulated market, was evident in 2016 when Ripple announced a steering group that consisted of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Santander, UniCredit, Standard Chartered, Westpac Banking Corporation, and Royal Bank of Canada would control the development and deployment of Ripple technology.
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group
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