Banco Santander announced that it will use Ripple’s distributed ledger technology in mobile international payments for personal customers. To be launched in Q1 2018, the ‘same day payments’ have been tested for 18 months with bank staffers and the app has been tested with Apple Pay for payments of between £10 and £10,000 using Touch ID for secure sign-in.This could become the earliest major retail use case of blockchain technology in the banking system.
It was in the bank’s 2017 earning presentation that Banco Santander revealed its plans for the live rollout, under a slide headed, ‘Same day mobile international payments in 3 clicks and 40 seconds using distributed ledger technology’.
“We expect to be one of the first global banks to roll out distributed ledger technology based payments for individuals”, said a spokesperson for Banco Santander. The bank will be introducing the service in four countries simultaneously and promises full transparency on fees and FX upfront. The app will be made available in Spain, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Poland. EUR payments are compatible with up to 21 countries whereas USD payments can be sent to the United States. A wider implementation of Ripple-powered bank payments may come shortly.
Heavily invested in Ripple (XRP), a spokesperson for Banco Santander commented: “The need for finance has evolved from providing a physical Pound in your pocket or card in your purse, where you pay at a till, to being seamlessly integrated into a new, always-on, connected lifestyle. At Santander we work hard to ensure our banking is simple, personal and fair and believe new Blockchain technology will play a transformational role in the way we achieve our goals and better serve our customers, adding value by creating more choice and convenience.”
Ripple’s xRapid solution which provides on-demand liquidity for instant money transfer is taking followers. The Industry Spread has reported earlier in February that IDT Corporation and Mercury FX adopted xRapid after MoneyGram and Cuallix.
In November 2017, Ripple gained renewed attention by appointing BitLicense architect Benjamin Lawsky to the Board of Directors. The same month, the UK arm of Santander announced plans to work with American Express to use Ripple’s tech for blockchain-enabled cross-border b2b payments.
