Egypt’s largest bank joins RippleNet for remittances

The National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the country’s biggest bank by total assets, has joined Ripple’s blockchain-based payments network RippleNet.

NBE has signed a co-operation agreement with Ripple and is claiming to be the first bank in Egypt to use blockchain technology, local newspaper Youm7 reported Tuesday. The bank is seeking to facilitate faster and cheaper cross-border payments via RippleNet.

Egypt is one of the top five remittance recipient countries, according to figures from the World Bank. Migrants sent $29 billion worth of funds in 2018 alone to the Middle East country.

NBE won't utilize RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity solution for now, which utilizes XRP for processing remittances, a Ripple spokesperson told The Block.

NBE joins the growing number of financial firms that have partnered with Ripple. Most recently, these include Nasdaq-listed remittance firm International Money Express, London-based fintech firm Finastra and remittance firm MoneyGram, among others.

Ripple recently said that it has crossed 300 customers and has seen 10x year-over-year growth in transactions on RippleNet. 

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Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.