Federal Bank Partners Ripple to Accelerate Cross-Border Remittances

India's Federal Bank recently announced at BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) its partnership with Ripple for cross border payments.

Ripple is the leading enterprise blockchain network (RippleNet) to provide impetus to its inward cross-border remittances. RippleNet claimed to be only enterprise blockchain solution for global payments. Ripple has already established a Mumbai office in 2017.  It also began partnering with financial institutions across the country to improve access to services for consumers and businesses.

The recent Federal Bank announcement noted that Mr. Shyam Srinivasan, Federal Bank MD & CEO and Mr. John Mitchell, Senior Vice President Ripple Inc have signed the agreements for the partnership.

Executive Opinion

According to Gulf News report, MD & CEO, Federal Bank, Shyam Srinivasan, said, "Federal Bank is an important part of the remittance eco-system to India, so, it is only natural for us to offer the latest technology to our customers and remittance partners such as exchange houses and banks. For long Federal Bank has endeavored to bring our non-resident clientele closer to their homes. Each of our digital offerings has been designed with this objective in mind."

India's Remittances Market

The remittance to India stood at USD $80 billion at the end of 2018, according to the World Bank Report. The huge growth of remittances market in India presents a significant opportunity. In 2017-18, Indian market inward remittances stood at USD 69 billion while outbound remittance market stood at USD 11.3. This is 38.7% growth of outward remittances from USD 8.2 billion in 2016-17.

This partnership will help Federal Bank to explore new corridors where Ripple is aggressively pursuing new partnerships.

In June 2018, Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) announced its planned usage of blockchain company Ripple’s settlement solution, xCurrent to help its customers with real-time cross-border transactions in a safe and secure manner.