Ripple’s array of partners expands as CIBC, NAB join RippleNet
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and the National Bank of Australia (NAB) are joining RippleNet to tap its increasingly popular blockchain solution for cross-border payments and settlement, according to an announcement from the Ripple team.
The move is part of a wider alliance between the North American and APAC banking giants with Israel’s Bank Leumi to share information, innovation strategies and open up networks with start-up partners. The collaboration also strengthens the potential for these banks to co-develop products and services to enhance customer experiences.
The partnership centers around adopting RippleNet’s global payment network service, which leverages Ripple’s native stablecoin for instant cross-border payments, through the ODL service. RippleNet, which already has attracted over 300 financial institutions, has signed an existing roster of financial institutions and money transfer companies.
Through On-Demand Liquidity, RippleNet utilizes XRP as a bridge between two currencies, thus lowering operational costs, unlocking capital, and enables the users to avoid pre-funding accounts on each side of a transaction.
“We’re excited to be working with CIBC and have already partnered with them in using Ripple’s blockchain technology to complete international payments transfers between our banks as a proof of concept. We believe that the technology has the potential to not only deliver real-time international payments, but also improved security and efficiency of our payments systems, so this is an important piece of work,” said NAB Executive General Manager NAB Labs Jonathan Davey.
Major banks are testing the product
He added that the network opened up many opportunities for NAB, one of Australia’s top 4 banking institutions, to access first-class innovation initiatives and insights.
Ripple is developing several blockchain-based solutions that enable cross-border money transactions between banks in a faster and cheaper way than the current systems. The XRP issuer has recently made significant inroads in Asia as its business continues to face difficulties in the US.
Bank Leumi First Executive Vice President, Group CTIO and COO, Dan Yerushalmi added: “It’s common knowledge that Israel is the ‘Start-Up Nation’ and a hotbed of innovation. Bank Leumi is a key player in both the local and global innovation arena and I am strongly convinced that this alliance will enable us to mutually share innovation strategies and to enhance our respective customer experience. We find this open dialogue and knowledge sharing to be of great value and see the alliance as the beginning of a wider collaboration with NAB and CIBC in future programs.”
