Ripple is looking to expand its presence in Europe, forming a new partnership with Lithuanian electronic money institution FINCI.
The latter has reportedly joined Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) network, which, among many benefits, allows it to bring instant, low-cost remittances to its customers.
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.
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 Europe and elsewhere as its business continues to face difficulties in the US.
“We’re excited to be working with Ripple to make it easier for FINCI customers to move money around the world. We share the same fundamental goal of removing the hidden inefficiencies affecting international payments. What’s more, the savings and operational improvements we’ll achieve by using Ripple’s ODL will allow us to put money back into the business and enhance our offering to our customers,” said Mihails Kuznecovs, CEO of FINCI.
European banks showing interest in blockchain
Sendi Young, a former Mastercard veteran who is charged with championing the expansion of the firm’s RippleNet network among European Union institutions, also touched on the partnership.
“Cross-border payments have traditionally been slow, complex and unreliable. ODL is the first enterprise-grade solution to address these cross-border payment problems by tapping into global crypto liquidity, giving our customers a completely new way of doing business to help them grow and scale. We’re delighted that FINCI is our latest ODL deployment in Europe and are looking forward to soon announcing additional European partners who are preparing for a crypto-enabled future,” she said.
Today’s partnership with FINCI means things are shifting for Ripple’s European business into a higher gear. A quarter of Ripple’s current customers are reportedly based in Europe, and year to date, RippleNet’s annualized payment volume more than doubled and now stands at $15 billion.
With European banks showing huge interest in the potential of blockchain technology, Ripple maintains an office in London to serve the region. The San Francisco-based startup already counts many banks and money transmitters among its European customer base. It claims that its network and XRP token could save up to 60% on costs associated with global interbank settlements.
