Per a recent announcement that was shared on December 27th, the NBK (National Bank of Kuwait) launched cross-border transfer services based on blockchain technology provided by RippleNet.
In terms of assets, the NBK was established in 1952 as one of the largest financial institutions in Kuwait. According to the bank’s 2017 report, the NBK has a total of $86.3 billion in assets. Reportedly, the NBK has become one of the first financial companies in Kuwait to come up with a remittance service called NBK Direct Remit. This new service will be used for live international payments through RippleNet’s blockchain technology and improve cross-border money transfers. The service will also revolutionize the future of money transfers going forward. The deputy CEO of technology and group operations, Dimitrios Kokosioulis, stated that this new blockchain solution would allow customers of NBK to make monetary transfers in seconds during any time of the day. Kokosioulis went on to say that this service would soon expand to Jordan as well as other countries. He eventually wants everyone to be able to try out this new service for themselves. Back in November, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, a lending giant in Malaysia, joined forces with RippleNet. CIMB plans to incorporate RippleNet’s XCurrent software solution to accelerate cross-border payments for its SpeedSend transfer product. That same month, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc., a Japanese financial services firm and bank, partnered with Banco Bradesco to come up with a new cross-border payment service to Brazil with RippleNet. This product will assist each bank in commercializing a traceable and transparent high-speed cross-border payment solution between Brazil and Japan. Ripple launched xRapid, a real-time settlement system that’s used commercially. xRapid is a system designed to facilitate accelerated international payments, eliminating the need to utilize a pre-financed nostro account.