London-based Exim Bank, which specializes in providing financial services for companies in the fields of export and import, will be the first bank to officially announce the use of XRP cryptocurrency for cross-border payments.
As reported by Ripple, Exim Bank, together with payment startups JNFX, SendFriend, Transpaygo and FTCS, will use the xRapid solution for international payments. Also, Ahli from Kuwait and BFC from Bahrain, as well as ConnectPay, GMT, WorldCom Finance, Olympia Trust Company, Pontual / USEND and Rendimento, entered the RippleNet ecosystem.
xRapid is for payment providers and other financial institutions who want to minimize liquidity costs while improving their customer experience. Because payments into emerging markets often require pre-funded local currency accounts around the world, liquidity costs are high. xRapid dramatically lowers the capital requirements for liquidity.
Currently, over 200 different companies around the world have become Ripple customers. At the same time, according to the head of a cryptocurrency startup Brad Garlinghaus (Brad Garlinghouse), 2-3 new companies join the ecosystem every week. Last year, Ripple's customer base increased by 350%.
“We see that more and more companies are switching to XRP, which increases the token’s liquidity”, said Ripple's CEO.
Director of Exim Bank Kushik Punjani (Kaushik Punjani) said that before the bank's customers were not available fast and inexpensive transactions, and this applied to both large corporations and small companies.
“Working together with Ripple and individual participants, we refined our systems and tested xCurrent and xRapid products in record time. Now we look forward to the benefits that they give to our customers”, said Punjani.
The head and co-founder of the SendFriend payment service, David Lighton, also emphasized the convenience, speed and cheapness of international payments when using xRapid.
Recall that at the end of last year, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) authorized the use of RippleNet technology for online banking.