Ripple's cross-border payments specialist announced on its website that the National Commercial Bank (NCB) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has become another corporate client and has joined RippleNet, a rapidly growing global network of banks, payment providers, digital exchanges and corporations. This is a huge win for Ripple as KSA is a major player in the world of remittances and World Bank data "shows that $ 308 million was sent by KSA itself and $ 37 billion in remittances were sent out of the country in just 2016." The reason for the very large amount of money flowing out of the country is that it is one of the largest labor markets in the world, estimated at the end of 2017, and has 11 million foreign workers from over 100 countries.In addition, according to Ripple, “both large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises are responsible for a significant volume of payments,” with both groups being primarily served by domestic financial institutions. Founded in 1953, NCB reports that it operates 512 branches in KSA, over 3.3 million clients and is the largest financial asset manager in the Middle East. NCB's decision to join RippleNet and become a client of Ripple's xCurrent product follows the completion of a pilot program that includes KSA's central bank, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), which signed an agreement with Ripple in February 2018 to “help banks in KSA improve their payment infrastructureusing xCurrent ". The goal of this program was for Saudi Arabian participating banks "to use xCurrent to instantly calculate payments sent to and from the country with greater transparency and lower costs."At this time, Dilip Rao, Global Head of Infrastructure Innovation at Ripple, said: "Central banks around the world are leaning towards innovative technologies, recognizing how they can transform cross-border payments, resulting in lower barriers to trade for both corporations and consumers."Once NCB starts to conduct transactions thanks to the Ripple network, which is expected to happen by the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, the institution will be able to transact with other financial institutions around the world that are already on the RippleNet network.
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