According to an announcement published Friday on Ripple’s blog, the UAE’s largest lender, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), has become the first bank in the Middle East to partner with Ripple. Through integrating Ripple’s technology, NBAD can now offer intrabank transfers and real-time cross-border payments to its customers.
Ripple to Provide Global Financial Settlement Solutions
Ramana Kumar, Managing Director and Head of Business and Product Management at Global Transaction Banking (GTB), appreciates the potential of blockchain technology as a way to offer efficient and transparent banking solutions:
At NBAD we strive to ensure our offerings are efficient and transparent. Blockchain technology transforms and paves a new way of achieving our goals and better serve our customers, adding value through accessibility and transparency. As an initial adopter and first bank to go live on Ripple, NBAD offers innovative solutions to our client’s payments needs.
By integrating Ripple’s solution throughout its network, NBAD is able to offer its customers an efficient and reliable source for instant transfer of funds to a beneficiary in a cost-effective manner.
Bulletproofing Customer Data Security
In addition to speed and transparency, another crucial benefit of blockchain integration is its inherent security. The security of banking customers’ personal and financial data is of paramount importance. Blockchain implementation in a financial institution like NBAD is a major leap forward in the protection of customer information and transactions. It eliminates the need for intermediary banks to facilitate transfers while being able to operate in parallel to the existing SWIFT system.
Speaking about the partnership, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated:
Banks and their customers have been hearing about the promise of blockchain technology to enable real-time cross-border payments. Now, some of the most innovative and successful banks like NBAD are making this a reality by offering Ripple-enabled payments to their entire customer base. And in doing so, paving the way to make 2017 the year we see broad commercialization of blockchain take hold globally.
Ripple’s Reach Expands
Despite the recent downturn in the cryptocurrency market, the adoption of Ripple’s payment solutions continues to increase. In December alone, Ripple announced several important partnerships and projects:
- The Japan Bank Consortium – a coalition of Japanese banks organized by SBI Ripple Asia – announced the launch of a new Ripple pilot with two of South Korea’s largest banks.
- Krungsri (Bank of Ayudhya PCL), one of the largest banks in Thailand, teamed up with Ripple to “remove the friction” from cross-border payments.
That momentum has carried into 2018 with the announcement that MoneyGram would be implementing XRP and Ripple’s xRapid solution to provide on-demand liquidity.
At press time, Ripple (XRP) was trading at around $0.93, a gain of over 19% since the same time the previous day.
What are your thoughts on Ripple’s new partnership with NBAD? Will it pave the way for other major banks to adopt RippleNet? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Arabian Business, Shutterstock
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