Ripple Partners With Kuwait Finance House For Cross-Border Payments

Adopting Ripple’s system for international remittance payments, The Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has joined Ripple Net. The institution is reportedly the first bank in Kuwait to become a part of the enterprise blockchain network, CCN reported.

Through the platform, the bank can offer cross-border money transfers securely — and within seconds. In addition, the bank can have visibility over the payment’s journey. And by joining the network, the bank is taking part in a worldwide blockchain network that includes more than 100 financial institutions such as payment providers and banks. Still, many details surrounding the rollout are not yet clear: For example, it’s not known if the bank will use Ripple’s xCurrent, which allows settlements in fiat currency, or Ripple’s xRapid, which uses XRP for liquidity.

The news comes a few months after Ripple revealed that RippleNet, its blockchain network, now services more than 100 financial institutions. “We are pleased to announce that Bexs Banco, AirWallex, Credit Agricole, Cuallix, Currencies Direct, dLocal, IFX, Krungsri, RAKBANK, and TransferGo, among others, have joined RippleNet,” the company said in a statement. “The newest members can count themselves among SBI Remit, SEB and Siam Commercial, who also use RippleNet to send cross-border payments.”

These new additions boost the number of companies using RippleNet to more than 100 financial institutions — including banks, payments providers and more — that are leveraging the technology to provide a global payments experience that delivers instant, certain, low-cost global payments to their customers.

At the time, Cuallix became the first worldwide institution to use xRapid — Ripple’s cryptocurrency solution that utilizes XRP as a liquidity tool — to reduce the cost of sending cross-border payments from the U.S. to Mexico. As a result, Cuallix moved to the forefront of digital payments by using digital assets to remove the inefficiencies and red tape associated with processing and sourcing liquidity.