Ripple partners with the National bank of Fujairah, in yet another stride towards the development of RippleNet’s Blockchain network. The national bank of Fujairah is a Dubai-based corporate bank that offers corporate and commercial banking services for conducting cross-border payments.
Ripple Adds to its partner base
This development was first reported by a magazine known as Entrepreneur Middle East and sees Ripple add to its over 250 list of partners. The article on the Entrepreneur Middle East stated that,
“Blockchain technology, digital banking applications as well as Robotics Process Automation [RPA] have been focal points in the NFB’s digital strategy. With the mass spreading of Blockchain Technology NBF is utilizing the benefits of Ripple-Net to provide frictionless experience for sending and receiving money globally and is working with other banks to implement Ripple in 2019.”
Ripple in the MENA region
Ripple had previously made it clear that it had its sights on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which it found quite attractive to many financial service providers. The crypto wave has also been sweeping through the region for quite some time now. The Global Head of infrastructure Innovation at Ripple Dilip Rao had previously stated;
“We chose to focus on solving inefficiencies in key corridors where payment flows are significant and growing. Adding a market leader like UAE Exchange to RippleNet will bring instant, certain, low-cost payments to the millions of retail customers in the UAE who send money abroad.”
Ripple has presented itself as a Blockchain entity dedicated to enhancing existing financial institutions by improving cross-border payments. A World Bank report released this year showed that remittances in the MENA region grew by 9 percent to $62 Billion in 2018. This report also stated that this growth would continue to be seen though at a slower pace of 3 percent in the early days of 2019.
Ripple has continued to grow in terms of partnerships, but has struggled lately to please investors. Ripple’s price has made some significant losses which has led to some investors accusing them of dumping the XRP-its token. Though Ripple continues to be optimistic, the heat from investors is certainly being felt at the company.
