More financial institutions continue to join Ripple’s famous blockchain network, RippleNet, as Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank becomes the latest addition.
National Commercial Bank Joins RippleNet
The National Commercial Bank (NCB), which is the first established bank in Saudi Arabia is only following in the trails of the country’s central bank, which also recently joined the blockchain network.
The NCB’s move is only logical given the vast number of international remittances that is processed per time; high remittances, owing to the large migrant worker population from Saudi Arabia.
The National Commercial Bank boasts of customers as high as 5 million all over the world; hence following KSA’s central bank to join RippleNet to allow near-instant international payments with partner banks internationally.
While the bank hopes to deal with many other financial institutions in the near future, according to Ripple; the bank would be connecting first with the institutions in North America and Asia, with Singapore marked as the starting point in the continent.
RippleNet, Ripple’s enterprise blockchain network has gained traction over a couple of years, with the network supporting more than 100 financial institutions serving as proof. Financial institutions serviced include payment providers, remittance operators, banks and other financial institution processing real-time clearing and settlement of international transactions.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is one of the largest sources of remittances in the world according to Ripple. More than 35 billion dollars were sent from Saudi Arabia two years ago in outward remittances, according to World Bank.
Ripple sees the KSA as one of the world’s largest sources for remittances over the last ten years. Citing World Bank, while the foreign worker population this year is still above ten million.
In its announcement, Ripple further added:
“For SMEs and corporations that depend on NCB, more efficient and transparent remittances will provide stability and help them grow their business faster.”
In other news, the central bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is currently working with KSA’s central bank to allow for a cross-border cryptocurrency which would facilitate easy and instant transactions across the two oil-rich countries.
