Egypt’s largest bank joins RippleNet for remittances

The National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the country’s biggest bank by total assets, has joined Ripple’s blockchain-based payments network RippleNet.

NBE has signed a co-operation agreement with Ripple and is claiming to be the first bank in Egypt to use blockchain technology, local newspaper Youm7 reported Tuesday. The bank is seeking to facilitate faster and cheaper cross-border payments via RippleNet.

Egypt is one of the top five remittance recipient countries, according to figures from the World Bank. Migrants sent $29 billion worth of funds in 2018 alone to the Middle East country.

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NBE won't utilize RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity solution for now, which utilizes XRP for processing remittances, a Ripple spokesperson told The Block.

NBE joins the growing number of financial firms that have partnered with Ripple. Most recently, these include Nasdaq-listed remittance firm International Money Express, London-based fintech firm Finastra and remittance firm MoneyGram, among others.

Ripple recently said that it has crossed 300 customers and has seen 10x year-over-year growth in transactions on RippleNet. 

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