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UAE Exchange, a Forex exchange and payment provider based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is about to launch a cross-border remittances platform in collaboration with Ripple, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing an interview with the UAE Exchange CEO. The platform, which is expected to be ready by the first quarter of next year, will operate remittances to Asia by leveraging blockchain technology.
In 2017, Asia accounted for one of the largest shares of the approximately $613 billion in remittances sent worldwide. A large portion came from Asian workers in the Middle East, where UAE Exchange, a subsidiary of Forex firm Finablr, plays a leading role.
Currently, most of the remittances are carried out via Forex branches. However, an increased share is transferred through various online applications. In the next few years, distributed ledger technology (DLT) might be essential for cross-border payment services, and Ripple is working towards becoming a leading actor. Last month, CEO Brad Garlinghouse even claimed that Ripple was aiming to overcome the SWIFT network. On a side note, SWIFT CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt announced on Wednesday that he would step down after running the firm for seven years.
UAE Exchange wants to adopt blockchain as it understands the future trends, and Ripple will help it update its infrastructure.
Promoth Manghat, executive director and chief executive at parent company Finablr, commented:
“Blockchain holds tremendous promise for the industry but there is progress to be made before we see it go fully mainstream.”
“We expect to go live with Ripple by Q1, 2019 with one or two Asian banks. This is for remittances to start with, from across the globe into Asia.”
In February of this year, we reported that UAE Exchange partnered with Ripple to process cross-border payments. After the deal, the firm became the largest payments provider in the Middle East to apply Ripple’s solution in processing payments.
Manghat revealed that Ripple might be beneficial for UAE Exchange’s parent company as well:
“We are also looking at how Ripple can enhance our business-to-business solutions at Finablr,” he said.
Finablr also runs Travelex Holdings, Xpress Money, Ditto Bank, Remit2India, and other businesses. It recently appointed JPMorgan and Barclays as global coordinators for its listing on the London Stock Exchange, which is expected to occur in the first half of 2019.
XRP, the cryptocurrency issued by Ripple and used in its xRapid technology, has fallen about 1% in the last 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap data. The second largest digital currency is pressed by the general bearish mood.
SOURCE (https://cryptovest.com/news/uae-exchange-expands-partnership-with-ripple-to-launch-remittance-service/)