Finablr, a global payment platform and foreign exchange operator based in the United Arab Emirates, has joined Ripple’s (XRP) RippleNet blockchain network, a press release reveals on Feb. 11.
Finablr's network brands, UAE Exchange and payment platform Unimoni, will use the blockchain-based platform provided by Ripple to complete real-time transactions to Thailand. The firm also reported it has plans to expand the services to other countries in future.
As per the press release, the first partner in the service major Thai bank, Siam Commercial Bank, letting UAE Exchange and Unimoni customers globally send money to Thailand. The bank has been working with RippleNet since September 2018, when it became the platform’s first financial institution to trial a key feature dubbed “multi-hop.”
Navin Gupta, Managing Director of South Asia and MENA at Ripple, believes that joining a blockchain network with over 100-member banks and financial institutions will let UAE Exchange provide more efficient services to its customers.
In February 2018, UAE Exchange first partnered with Ripple for cross-border payments. Towards the end of 2018, the exchange — reportedly the largest payments firm in the Middle East to use RippleNet — revealed that blockchain-based remittances to Asia would be available by Q1 2019.
The UAE itself is actively exploring crypto and blockchain-related technologies. Recently, the country agreed to cooperate with Saudi Arabia to launch a cross-border digital currency. The UAE central bank further revealed that the digital currency, dubbed “Aber,” will only be available for a limited number of banks in the two countries while the technology is being tested.
A subsidiary of Siam Commercial Bank previously partnered with global management consultancy firm Accenture to launch a blockchain tool aimed at supply chains.