Ripple launches cross-border-payments app with National Bank of Kuwait

San-Francisco FinTech giant, Ripple, the company behind XRP, currently, the biggest altcoin in the cryptocurrency market has partnered with the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) to launch a cross-border-payments product on the blockchain, as per an official announcement dated December 27.

The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) was set up in 1952 as the country’s first local bank and the first shareholding company. As per the bank’s 2017 annual report, it holds the most assets of all financial institutions in Kuwait, at a whopping $86.3 billion. NBK also boasts the highest credit ratings among Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.

Ripple has fronted its RippleNet blockchain technology to implement a remittance product with NBK, titled, “NBK Direct Remit.” This product will facilitate live payments as well as cross-border money transfers.

Dmitrios Kokosioulis, the deputy CEO-group operations and technology said, “This service is a significant achievement as it enables our customers to make money transfers within seconds, easily and at their convenience anytime of the day.”

He further announced that NBK Direct Remit will also be made available in Jordan and soon will be expanded to other countries.

Marcus Treacher, SVP of Customer Success at Ripple, said, “The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) is an important partner in the region, and we’re excited that they have begun moving live payments across our blockchain network on behalf of their customers.”

The payments sector is certainly an important sphere in Ripple’s operations, as several associations go to show. Ripple partnered with SBI holdings of Japan to build ‘MoneyTap,’ a blockchain payments app and Ripple’s ledger OnePay FX will be employed by the Spanish banking giant Banco Santander for payment purposes.

Geographically, Kuwait is a prime focus for Ripple, with the NBK announcement coming less than two months after the company announced the setting-up of an office in Dubai to further their operations in the Middle East and South Asia.

Back in October, Ripple announced the introduction of xRapid, the real-time settlement commercial platform. Buoyed by its payments advancements, xRapid will speed up payments with an emphasis on cross-border money movement.

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