Riyadh - Sharikat Mubasher: The Central Bank of Saudi Arabia (SAMA) announced its strategic partnership with the popular blockchain firm, Ripple, on revolutionizing cross-border settlements.

In a statement, SAMA confirmed that this partnership highlights the bank’s commitment to enhancing its financial infrastructure through cutting-edge technology, in addition to highlighting the pivotal role of technology in transforming traditional financial systems.

In 2018, the Saudi bank inked an agreement with Ripple on initiating a pioneering pilot program, marking a turning point in central banking realm. According to the program, participants Saudi banks adopt Ripple’s ‘xCurrent’ software that would enable the banks to achieve immediate settlement of inbound and outbound settlements.

Ripple’s Global Head of Infrastructure Innovation, Dilip Rao, noted that this technology has the ability to overcome all barriers in commerce, hence, enhance growth opportunities for businesses.

Ripple is a US-based settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network offering its services to financial institutions across the world. It enables global financial institutions, businesses, governments and developers in more than 50 countries to move, manage and tokenize value, helping to unlock greater economic opportunity for everyone, everywhere.

Saudi Central Bank was established in 1952, and was previously known as the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA).