Axis Bank Will Provide Instant Cross-border Money Transfer Using Blockchain!

After ICICI Bank and SBI, it is the turn of Axis Bank to activate the blockchain mode.

Usually, cross-border payments take up to 3-4 days in India, which would be reduced to mere 5-10 seconds now, because Axis Bank has now partnered with Ripple to use blockchain for instant cross-border money transfer mechanism.

But, payments from which countries can be used for this new and exciting technology? And which banks have partnered with Axis Bank for using Ripple’s blockchain method?

Read on..

Axis Bank-Ripple’s Blockchain Partnership

Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS), currency exchange and remittance network, which uses blockchain for operating their services. They are built on open source Internet protocol, consensus ledger and native cryptocurrency called XRP (ripples).

Under their partnership with Axis Bank in India, Ripple will now enable instant cross-border money transfer, which will take only 5-10 seconds, compared to 3-4 days which is the norm right now.

Axis Bank President of Transaction Banking Himadri Chatterjee said,

“Using APIs and distributed ledger technology, there is an opportunity to radically change the way international payments are handled. We are excited with the potential the technology has to bring innovative services to the market and help us enhance value to our customers..”

In order to enable blockchain based money transfers, banks need to be become a partner with Ripple, and recently, they secured their 100th partner, globally.

Some of the biggest names in banking, such as Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of America Merril Lynch, UBS Group, Mizuho are Ripple’s partners, globally.

And now, this list also includes Axis Bank.

Which Banks and Which Countries Are Covered?

To start with, Axis Bank will anyone from UAE and Singapore to easily remit money into India, using Ripple’s blockchain foundation.

From Dubai, Axis Bank has partnered with Rakbank and in Singapore, they have partnered with Standard Chartered Bank.

However, there are some terms and conditions attached here.

Anyone from Dubai’s Rakbank can instantly send money to only Axis Bank’s retail customers in India; meanwhile anyone from Singapore’s Standard Chartered Bank can instantly send money to Axis Bank’s corporate customers in India.

Gautam Jain, Global Head, Digitization and Client Access, Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered said,

“The successful launch of our commercial cross-border payment service marks a significant milestone in the financial industry’s progress in applying distributed ledger technology for corporates..”

Earlier, SBI and ICICI Bank has initiated blockchain based banking operations in India, and earlier this year, Yes Bank too initiated this.

Major banks in India have already formed a coalition to use blockchain technology to prevent frauds in the banking sector.

We will keep you updated as receive more inputs.