South Korean ‘Big Five’ Bank Completes Ripple Remittance Trial

Advertisement

Woori Bank, one of South Korea’s biggest banks, has reportedly completed a successful overseas remittance trial enabled by the blockchain technology developed by Ripple.

South Korean ‘big five’ bank Woori has completed the second phase of an overseas remittance trial using San Francisco-based enterprise blockchain startup Ripple, a move that sees the commercialization of blockchain cross-border payments as early as this year, local business publication Chosun reports.

According to the report, the trial marks phase two of the Seoul-based bank’s Digital Strategy Department endeavor to explore blockchain applications in real-world remittances following the first test near the end of January. The bank’s foreign exchange and IT departments are set to work on introducing and commercializing the technology soon, the report added.

The trial is a part of a larger effort by some 60 Japanese banks participating in a broader Ripple blockchain-based remittance experiment, led by Japan’s SBI Group. Japanese financial giant SBI has notably partnered Ripple to establish SBI Ripple Asia, a joint venture that is testing a blockchain remittance platform for instant payments between banks Japan and South Korea.

In March 2017, a consortium of 47 Japanese banks led by SBI Ripple Asia successfully piloted RC Cloud, a Ripple-powered cloud payments platform to enable real-time domestic and international money transfers. All of which point to a sweeping pivot toward cross-border transfers by banks looking for cheaper, more efficient and faster transactions by ignoring the traditional centralized middleman.

Ripple’s effort to make a splash in the global remittance space is gathering pace with a growing clientele list that includes some of the world’s largest banks, payments providers and even traditional remittance giants trialing the startup’s blockchain tech.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Follow us on Telegram.

Advertisement