Banco Santander’s One Pay FX international payments app, built together with Ripple, is now available in 19 more regions, according to a blog post announcement on July 9. This initiative, whose focus is solving the challenges in international remittance ecosystems, began back in 2018, rolling out in Spain, United Kingdom, Poland, and Brazil.
Following its expansion, the One Pay FX solution since became available in prominent jurisdictions, such as the U.S, Portugal, and Chile. Ed Metzger, the CTO of One Pay FX, has noted that they look forward to bring this tech to even more people in future:
“We’re looking to expand One Pay FX to new territories and customer segments so more people can benefit from faster, cheaper and more transparent international payments.”
Santander, which features among the top banks in Europe, took an interest in the international payments space after it was prompted by customer feedback. Some of the issues highlighted were lack of transparency in the amounts received as well as an uncertain delivery period, typically 3-5 business days.
It was then that the bank decided to leverage Ripple’s tech for solutions in the international remittance ecosystem. Metzger highlights speed as one of the reasons Santander settled for Ripple:
“Ripple also helps us address the speed issue of international transactions. Some payments on One Pay FX now happen instantly. I made a payment recently from an account I have in Spain to one in the UK and received text alerts about the transaction from both accounts within seconds of one another.”
So far, this initiative seems to have gained traction and boosted liquidity within Santander’s remittance network. The One Pay FX app won a silver award during the Distribution and Marketing Innovation Awards held in 2018. According to Metzger, more clients are making international transactions on the app given its seamless nature:
“customers now treat an international payment like a domestic transfer. They have so much confidence in the low cost, same day process, it’s no longer a big deal to send money abroad.”
Ripple’s Products on Demand
Despite the XRP token value proposition still being in question, Ripple’s products built for the international payment networks have been integrated by big boys in both finance and tech. Some notable mentions that have considered this tech include American Express, Standard Chartered Bank, and MoneyGram.