In 1927, the infamous pilot, Charles Lindbergh, crossed the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris in 33 hours and 30 minutes. While this was one of the period’s greatest achievements, this number becomes less impressive when you consider that all of the more modern transactions take even longer, when crossing the same ocean. All modern-day transaction take anything between 24 to 48 hours using Swift banking, while traditional ACH methods can take up to five days.
The lag time in transactions has been a sore point for a long time, especially for businesses where an extra day or two could be detrimental to their operations. However, American Express (AMEX) has just announced their unique new payment corridor which will allow users to conduct transactions between the UK and the US in a matter of seconds.
The corridor relies on Ripple technology to ensure fast transaction times. It is a collaborative venture between the Santander, a bank based in Spain, Ripple, and American Express. According to Marcus Treacher, the international head of strategic accounts at Ripple, the latest payment corridor will become the fastest and most secure way to conduct transactions between the UK and the US.
Treacher himself previously served as a board member at Swift. He explains that previously, American Express and Swift had to communicate to one another in order to conduct transactions. However, the latest Ripple corridor will position American Express in direct contact with each bank, allowing payments to happen instantaneously.
The corridor will be managed by one of AMEX’s international divisions, known as the Foreign Exchange International Payments (FXIP) business. Using the corridor, AMEX users in America will have direct access to the service in order to transmit payments immediately and convert them from USD to GBP, and vice versa. The corridor will only process non-card payments and provide instant payments for all cross-border transactions.
American Express has been investigating blockchain technology and how the technology can help them to improve their services. Earlier this year, the credit provider joined with both the Hyperledger blockchain, as well as the cryptocurrency app, Abra, to launch blockchain technology ventures.
This is an equally beneficial opportunity for Ripple, as it promises to make their blockchain more revered in the industry. Ripple has also teamed up with financial institutions to introduce blockchain technology to the mainstream financial industry. Ripple and SEB, a Swedish Bank, recently created a corridor to connect the US to Stockholm. Even though the SEB corridor has only been launched in the second quarter of the year, it has already processed $630 million worth of payments.
According to Treacher, the SEB corridor processes payments in nine seconds or less. While it remains to be seen how quickly American Express can process transactions, Treacher praised the technology used, describing it as a pure blockchain which was not reliant on an accompanying cryptocurrency. Both the SEB and AMEX corridor provides users with a direct connection which does require any intermediaries.
In addition, Treacher seems to think that other banks might start following the budding trend of implementing blockchain technology to enhance their services. Just last month, the financial services provider, Cuallix, announced their partnership with Ripple which allowed users to conduct lightning speed international transactions using the XRP token.
However, Swift has not given up the fight just yet. The banking service is currently developing its own Hyperledger-based blockchain, which is also likely to speed up transactions significantly. However, according to Treacher, Ripple’s unique benefits will prove to be superior to Swift. The fact that banking services can use Ripple's XRP token will be an attractive feature for financial institutions because it enhances their liquidity.
The lag time in transactions has been a sore point for a long time, especially for businesses where an extra day or two could be detrimental to their operations. However, American Express (AMEX) has just announced their unique new payment corridor which will allow users to conduct transactions between the UK and the US in a matter of seconds.
The corridor relies on Ripple technology to ensure fast transaction times. It is a collaborative venture between the Santander, a bank based in Spain, Ripple, and American Express. According to Marcus Treacher, the international head of strategic accounts at Ripple, the latest payment corridor will become the fastest and most secure way to conduct transactions between the UK and the US.
Treacher himself previously served as a board member at Swift. He explains that previously, American Express and Swift had to communicate to one another in order to conduct transactions. However, the latest Ripple corridor will position American Express in direct contact with each bank, allowing payments to happen instantaneously.
The corridor will be managed by one of AMEX’s international divisions, known as the Foreign Exchange International Payments (FXIP) business. Using the corridor, AMEX users in America will have direct access to the service in order to transmit payments immediately and convert them from USD to GBP, and vice versa. The corridor will only process non-card payments and provide instant payments for all cross-border transactions.
American Express has been investigating blockchain technology and how the technology can help them to improve their services. Earlier this year, the credit provider joined with both the Hyperledger blockchain, as well as the cryptocurrency app, Abra, to launch blockchain technology ventures.
This is an equally beneficial opportunity for Ripple, as it promises to make their blockchain more revered in the industry. Ripple has also teamed up with financial institutions to introduce blockchain technology to the mainstream financial industry. Ripple and SEB, a Swedish Bank, recently created a corridor to connect the US to Stockholm. Even though the SEB corridor has only been launched in the second quarter of the year, it has already processed $630 million worth of payments.
According to Treacher, the SEB corridor processes payments in nine seconds or less. While it remains to be seen how quickly American Express can process transactions, Treacher praised the technology used, describing it as a pure blockchain which was not reliant on an accompanying cryptocurrency. Both the SEB and AMEX corridor provides users with a direct connection which does require any intermediaries.
In addition, Treacher seems to think that other banks might start following the budding trend of implementing blockchain technology to enhance their services. Just last month, the financial services provider, Cuallix, announced their partnership with Ripple which allowed users to conduct lightning speed international transactions using the XRP token.
However, Swift has not given up the fight just yet. The banking service is currently developing its own Hyperledger-based blockchain, which is also likely to speed up transactions significantly. However, according to Treacher, Ripple’s unique benefits will prove to be superior to Swift. The fact that banking services can use Ripple's XRP token will be an attractive feature for financial institutions because it enhances their liquidity.