South Korean Money Transfer Companies Join Forces

In an exciting turn of events for the remittance landscape in South Korea, several local money transfer companies have decided to hop on the RippleNet train. In a February 25 announcement, Ripple revealed that South Korean partners, including the money transfer service providers Sentbe and Hanpass as well as the modern-day remittance hero, WireBarley, are now utilizing Ripple’s blockchain-based financial services platform. The plan? To enhance the money-moving process across the country and keep those wallets happy!

The Multi-Billion Dollar Remittance Scene

Just to give you an idea of how serious the South Korean remittance game is, let’s sprinkle some numbers on this discussion. According to the World Bank, remittances flowing into South Korea surpassed a whopping $6.2 billion in 2018. Who’s sending all that cash? Well, South Koreans, largely directing their funds back home from places like the good ol’ United States, accounting for over half of those remittances. Talk about financial love letters across the Pacific!

RippleNet Expands Its Reach

But wait, there’s more! RippleNet isn’t just about cozy partnerships in South Korea. They’ve also teamed up with Azimo, a London-based remittance service, to create a shiny new On-Demand Liquidity corridor all the way to the Philippines. And they’re doing it using Ripple’s native token, XRP, as the beloved bridge currency.

“Ripple’s ODL solution has significantly reduced the cost and delivery time for cross-border transfers, and our customers are seeing the benefits.” – Richard Ambrose, CEO of Azimo

Cutting Costs and Time with Technology

When you weave this new technology into the remittance fabric, the results are rather impressive. Reports suggest that adopting RippleNet could chop liquidity costs by up to 60% compared to the traditional banking maze, proving that sometimes, the best routes are the ones no one else is using. Think of it as taking a shortcut through the park instead of sitting in traffic during rush hour.

RippleNet Adds Team Members Worldwide

This isn’t a one-time gig for RippleNet. Just in February, we also saw them onboard Bangladesh’s Bank Asia and Mexico’s International Money Express, which has its eyes set on the Latin American and Caribbean markets. And to add another feather to their cap, the National Bank of Egypt is getting in on the act too, aiming to explore new territories and grow remittance operations in the Gulf region.

Meanwhile, the remittance giant MoneyGram announced an innovative new service that lets users send money in real-time using Visa’s Direct Original Credit Transaction method. While Ripple isn’t the main actor in this play, MoneyGram is still utilizing Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity for their corporate FX trades, streamlining processes and saving costs. As Kamila Chytil, MoneyGram’s COO, puts it: “The technology is helping to solve the most expensive and time-consuming aspects of the current process.”