Big Day for Ripple as Amex Joins RippleNET

Ripple just released an announcement that American Express has now joined RippleNET. Amex will be joining the ranks of many others that have done so including Credit Agricole, Caullix and Airwallex.

RippleNET is Ripple's blockchain network which allows for real time payments on business to business platforms. This combination of blockchain technology with the client's current payment protocols is one of the allures of Ripple.

Ripple said that the initial roll out will be with Amex's FX international Payments (FXIP) division and Santander bank. This will allow for a transaction corridor between the US and the UK. This corridor is no doubt a great choice given the amount of trade between the two countries.

Lower fees, Faster Payments

The RippleNET solution will allow Amex's customers to save costs while also increasing the speed of the transactions. The blockchain based payment protocol is able process payments much more efficiently than traditional payment methods. Moreover, Ripple noted that the payments allow for full transparency into the costs and status.

Commenting on the Ripple partnership, the Executive vice president of Payments at Amex, Greg Keely said:

Not only does this partnership with Ripple help decrease the time it takes for international transactions to be processed, it can make our transactions more effective for our customers,

American Express is partnering with Santander UK to send the cross border payments. This would also be seen as a great opportunity for the FXIP division to increase their market share in the US-UK cross border payments.

The head of Santander UK's transaction banking, José Luis Calderón, agreed by stating that

Collaberating with forward-thinking businesses has enabled us to deliver this cutting-edge, secure, friction-free payment solution and extend our ‘Simple, Personal, Fair’ philosophy to American Express and their customers.

The same sentiments were echoed by the CEO of Ripple technologies, Brad Garlinghouse. He saw the partnership as a "huge step forward" in the global payments business.

With legacy payment solutions sometimes taking days to clear, Garlinghouse touted the benefits of a payment that can be "completed in real time, allowing money to move as fast as businesses move today".

XRP on the Move

Many investors are seeing the signs of the radical shift in B2B payments with Ripple at the forefront of this.

The immediate reaction towards the news was quite enthusiastic. The announcement was covered in a number of large news outlets and the price of the XRP token shot up by 22% to reach $0.27 before settling at $0.26 by press time.

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