During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Western Union’s CEO Hikmet Ersek provided the latest update regarding a partnership with Ripple.
According to him, the company is not done yet exploring whether Ripple’s solutions can enhance the company’s settlement system.
“The main reason for [the partnership] was optimizing our settlement system, to really manage the volatility. We tested with Mexico, one of our biggest corridors – the US to Mexico, dollars to pesos. And you have to understand that we have a system of 137 currencies settling in seconds,” he said.
He continued and explained that with the efficiency they currently have, they did not find the efficiency with Ripple.
On the other hand, he made sure to highlight the fact that this does not mean that things went wrong.
“We did invest in several cryptocurrency companies and several blockchain companies. We are learning on that, but the system we currently have settling in 137 currencies in seconds has been very efficient, and we did not find an alternative yet.”
Ripple vs. SWIFT and Western Union
One of the best features that Ripple’s solutions have been flaunting has been the fact that they can provide cheaper, safer and faster cross-border transactions.
BeeTech Global is a Brazil-based payment service which uses RippleNet in order to make remittance payments for people from around the world.
The fess used by BeeTech Global thanks to the fact that they’re using Ripple have proven to be much lower compared to Western Union, and their transactions are faster than SWIFT now.
This will definitely turn out perfect for people who are working away from their homes and want to send money to their loved ones.
Euro Exim Bank, for instance, ditched the traditional payment system used by banks and financial institutions for decades in order to benefit from Ripple’s more advanced solutions.