Most blockchain companies are majorly opposed to working with the traditional financial institutions. They oppose any collaboration citing that conventional institutions are centralized. On the contrary, Ripple aims to ‘take over the financial world’ by joining hands with the ‘avoided’ mainstream fiat currency institutions.

Ripple is the company behind XPR which is ranked as the third largest currency worldwide. A statement from the company’s Global Head of Infrastructure Innovation confirmed that a Ripple Dubai office would open before the end of 2018.

In recent months, Dilip Rao, the current global head of infrastructure innovation has hinted that Ripple is majorly planning to indulge in the Middle East Market. Dubai was chosen to host the first office in the region due to its financial policies and regional positioning in the broad Middle East region.

Rao confirmed the news during this year’s Global Islamic Economic Summit hosted in Dubai. The fintech firm aims at offering cross-border payment solutions coordinated form the Ripple Dubai office. Rao said in his speech that the company is new in the region have partnered with one bank in Bahrain, two in Kuwait, one in Oman, three in Saudi Arabia, and several in the United Arab Emirates.

The ‘Fastest Growing Marketplace’

Ripple decided to expand their operations in the Middle East since it is believed to be the fastest growing marketplace worldwide. Although the fintech firm has worked with at least 200 institutions from this region so far, they are actively looking for more partners soon starting with this office.

Rao and many other executives of Ripple believe that there is enormous potential offered by the Dubai market. The solution for the many cross-border transactions in the Middle East will hugely support the region’s economy and businesses.

Ripple is known for going against the norm of other cryptocurrencies. The company has chosen to work with banks rather than against them to create a workable solution acceptable to meet all compliance needs of regulators worldwide.

The company also uses InterLedger Protocol instead of the normal blockchain public ledgers to enhance privacy and security as stipulated by the financial institutions they work with. Rao convinced the attendants at the summit that XPR could act as a dependable bridging asset to solve the significant lack of liquidity experienced in many ‘corridors.’

Legacy Systems Losing Influence

In the case of the legacy money remittance services, Rao stated that they were slow, expensive and inconvenient. He also said that the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication system, popularly known as SWIFT, has become outdated. Most banks, particularly in South East Asia, do not use the SWIFT system. Instead, they are shifting to the new proprietary technologies that are getting introduced to the market.

Nonetheless, the new technological inventions also have their flaws. The main fault of some of them is their dismal performance when transacting low-value high-volume payments. The solution to this problem is the blockchain technology. Ripple is closely working with banks to create great solutions that seamlessly meet compliance requirements set by financial regulators across the world.