Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority (SAMA) Helps Foster Ripple Technology

Exactly, a year after Ripple signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority(SAMA), the authority’s Head of innovation, Mohsen Al Zahrani, confirms that KSA Central Bank will not use the technology. But, the two local banks will adopt xCurrent community and stir their services by March 2019. A confirmation like this is positive, sending a strong signal to the community.

The global head of infrastructure innovation at Ripple said:

Central banks around the world are leaning into blockchain technology in recognition of how it can transform cross-border payments, resulting in lower barriers to trade and commerce for both corporates and consumers. SAMA is leading the charge as the first central bank to provide resources to domestic banks that want to enable instant payments using Ripple’s innovative blockchain solution.

SAMA will not adopt the technology for a few obvious reasons. As it is the bank of KSA and the only consumers are the local and government banks. Also, they will back the crypto project, help educate as well as encourage local banks to utilize xCurrent. xCurrent is exactly opposite to SWIFT, as it allows participants to transfer high volume, high-value transactions instantaneously with low fees.

Ultimately, the solution is one of among the three promoted by Ripple Inc. These allow cross border payments complete with end-to-end tracking capabilities without XRP incorporation. Also, upgrade to the latest version allows engaging banks to upgrade and incorporate XRP through xRapid. SAMA is one of the central body overseeing all payments. Like outgoing and incoming, the vast network of the country’s ATMs, banks and point of sales.

During October 2018, Mohsen Al Zahrani elaborated about their approach to technology and prodding banks to innovate, saying

For us, it’s more about efficiency. We’re not anti-digital. Which is why we’re experimenting with issuing our own digital currency. But there are questions about how issues these and how, who controls it, who guarantees it.

Eventually, all of these point towards positive progress for Ripple Technology. As everything is on track with two banks using the technology starting in March. If it all works as per the plans, the global payment processor will have a foothold in KSA as well as UAE because of their compliant with Islamic banking and finance philosophies. This clearly indicates that they are a step ahead of their competitors and their support from SAMA translates direct implementation to any Islamic country in the world.

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