SEB and Ripple to build real-time payments system on blockchain
Paula da Silva, SEB: “It is not possible to predict who will be successful and therefore we have to experiment and try different solutions”
SEB has teamed up with blockchain specialist Ripple to enable SEB customers to make real-time transfers between SEB accounts in Stockholm and New York. The bank describes it as “an internal, closed blockchain”.
This is “the first step” of a larger blockchain-based payments project, SEB says.
“SEB has verified that the solution is compatible with the bank’s infrastructure and work is now underway to build a complete payment solution,” the bank adds.
The first customer transactions are planned for next year, and will offer customers real-time transfers with later cut-off times than what’s available today.
“In the next step, we plan to expand the solution to include all geographies and time zones in which we operate,” states Paula da Silva, head of transaction services at SEB.
“We face huge leaps in technology and many players compete to create standards that enable global solutions. It is not possible to predict who will be successful and therefore we have to experiment and try different solutions,” da Silva adds.
SEB is a founding member of the R3 consortium (and has recently voiced its concerns regarding some recent developments within R3 and beyond).
And earlier this year, SEB invested in Coinfy, a Danish fintech company, which develops solutions for blockchain payments.
