Western Union interested in Ripple for cross-border payments

Western Union does not give up on the potential of cryptocurrency and continues to test itdigital asset from Ripple, the XRP. According to a Credit Suisse research report of 2020, the money transfer giant is studying the fact that this technology can accelerate and reduce the cost of international payments.

The international money transfer company Western Union studies and deliberates on the “payments as a service” (PaaS) model that Ripple via its XRP is currently implementing. Indeed, in June of last year, Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek said that the company's first tests with XRP showed that the use of the cryptocurrency was five times more expensive than using Western Union’s internal system. He then said: ” Look, I'm open, any cost savings, any innovation. I'm there. We can sign an agreement tomorrow“, Emphasizing his interest in potential partnerships.

Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek speaking about @Ripple and @MoneyGram

WU still testing Ripple, looking at Ripple and learning from Ripple.

“Look, hey, I'm open, any cost savings, any innovation. I'm there. We can sign a deal tomorrow “@Western Union pic.twitter.com/Y1RvpDU8V5

– Leonidas Hadjiloizou (@LeoHadjiloizou) June 19, 2019

According to Ersek, Western Union has a special group of investors who “only invest in cryptocurrency and other projects related to block chains“. If their study reveals that Ripple's characteristics are really beneficial for its transfer and payment services, the prospects for their potential partnership are promising. Likewise, in February 2019, Asia Pacific Regional Director Molly Shea said the company is strategically positioning itself to use crypto assets if they turn out to be the next wave of international payments.

Find out more

” When we think about cryptocurrencies, if they start to take off, we have to be ready. We have to be technologically ready. And we need to be ready from a regulatory point of view, we have to be constantly on the lookout for the trends that customers are looking for and make sure you are ready to meet those needs and expectations“.

Credit Suisse Sees Ripple Use in B2B Market

According to Credit Suisse, Ripple and its XRP technology have the potential to reduce processing times and generate savings in the B2B market. In this context, Credit Suisse continues to argue that the B2B field between companies offers a huge growth potential, because existing solutions require long processing costs and transaction times. The report, released in January, still indicates that cryptocurrency assets are ” unlikely to be adopted for consumer-to-business payments, at least in the medium term“. This speech bounces back to the difficulties linked to dispute procedures, taxation, regulatory uncertainty and price volatility as potential factors likely to slow adoption. The report cites BitPay, Libra, JPM Coin, R3, IBM World Wire and Ripple as leaders in the field, all pushing for the use of digital resources for money transfers.

Who are the other stakeholders?

In June 2019, Ripple started its partnership with MoneyGram, a competitor of Western Union, with an investment of $ 50 million. This initiative aims to facilitate cross-border payments and settlements between currencies. Since MoneyGram's partnership with Ripple, the duo have already sold XRP for $ 11.3 million. There are over 200 financial institutions worldwide that are members of the Ripple-RippleNet network. These members are institutional payment providers such as banks and others financial services, including MoneyGram.