Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB abbreviated SEB, is a Swedish financial group for corporate customers, institutions and private individuals with headquarters in Stockholm. SEB has signed an agreement with Ripple, a San Francisco based fintech company, to use their blockchain technology solution as a basis for payment transactions. The first step will be to enable customers to make real-time transfers between SEB accounts in Stockholm and New York.

This is a way to explore the potential of new technologies and an example of how we, by working with innovative technology companies, can be even more relevant to our customers,” says Paula da Silva, head of Transaction Services at SEB. By using Ripple’s distributed financial technology, our customers can initiate real-time transfers between their SEB accounts in Sweden and the bank’s branch in New York,” says Paula da Silva.

Paula da Silva, Head of Transaction Services, SEB stated at SIBOS 2018 that SEB has a couple billion going through the Ripple platform. The billion dollar question is where is SEB today?

SEB along with other 5 Nordic banks have agreed to fund the development of a cross-border real-time payments platform as part of the P27 collective. P27 to Enable Instant Cross-Border Payments

Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, Nordea, OP Financial Group, and Swedbank have signed a shareholders’ agreement, agreed on a business plan, and made a financial commitment that will cover all costs up until the company is financially sustainable. The ambition is to launch the payments platform in 2021. According to reports, P27 will enable real-time and batch payments between the different Nordic countries in multiple currencies. Consumers and businesses will both be able to take advantage of the new system and send real-time payments initiated via mobile phone or corporate bank account. 2 Other benefits include instant payments at a lower cost and simplified payment processing due to the consolidated platform.