Leading Bank Of Saudi Arabia Launches Ripple Based Cross-Border Instant Payments

Ripple can add another bank to the list of financial entities using its cross-border payments focused technology, as the Saudi British Bank (SABB) announced they would use it to for a newly launched instant cross-border payments service.

Announced at the Financial Sector Conference held in Riyadh from April 24 – 25, the effort is a part of the bank’s long-term plan to bring the benefits of decentralized systems and digitize their services.

Majed Najm, Deputy Managing Director Corporate and Institutional Banking at SABB, said,

This step is part of the Bank’s ongoing efforts to provide the best banking services to customers, make use of the latest technology and global banking products available, and create methods and means to save time and effort for our customers. This is also to maintain our leading position in achieving the ambitions of the Bank’s customers whether in the retail or corporate sector, and to support SABB’s vision to be the leading global bank in the Kingdom.

The SABB last year announced that it would join the RippleNet – which has more than 200 members – through the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), and has already conducted a pilot program that saw the cross-border transfer of the Indian Rupee (INR). Najm said of this pilot,

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.