Big banks swell Ripple’s new blockchain payments group
On the crest of a blockchain wave
Ripple has created the “first” interbank group for global payments based on distributed financial technology – aka blockchain.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), Santander, UniCredit, Standard Chartered, Westpac Banking Corporation, and Royal Bank of Canada are the founding members of the network, known as the Global Payments Steering Group (GPSG). CIBC will also join the GPSG as a new member.
Don Donahue, chairman of GPSG and former president and CEO of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), says its creation is “significant because this represents the first time that major banks have formulated policies to govern the transfer of money across borders using blockchain”.
Although Ripple already has a network of banks, it says GPSG will oversee the creation and maintenance of Ripple payment transaction rules and formalised standards.
The plan is also to reduce the time and cost of settlement, while enabling new types of high-volume, low-value global transactions.
This latest announcement follows quickly on from Ripple’s Series B funding, which raised $55 million; and NAB completing a successful international money transfer using Ripple’s blockchain.
