In the weeks gone by, there has been a lot of talk regarding Ripple possibly teaming up with SWIFT in order to further improve its cross-border transaction efficiency. These rumors have only intensified after it was announced earlier yesterday that one of Ripple’s banking partners, Santander, too had partnered with SWIFT in an effort to improve its remittance services within countries such as Argentina, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Santander has gone live on SWIFT’s global payments innovation service (@swiftcommunity). Find out more here 👇🏻 and here https://t.co/QJ50GEqAgO pic.twitter.com/4k5AWDHALi — Banco Santander (@bancosantander) October 11, 2018

It is also worth remembering that the upcoming SIBOS 2018 Conference could potentially see Ripple executives announcing their decision to team up with SWIFT— a move which many believe has been in the books for quite some time now. The 4-day event will be held in Australia and is being hosted by SWIFT.

What Does This Deal Mean For Santander?

In the wake of Santander's deal with SWIFT, the Ripple community is now hopeful that a link between XRP and SWIFT too may be formed soon. This is in part due to Santander already making use of OpenFX, a cross border remittance platform that runs on Ripple’s native blockchain.

While talking about her company’s latest move, Eva Velayos, Santander’s GTB Head, said:

“For us, SWIFT gpi represents a good opportunity to improve the experience provided to our clients in their international payments, making the process faster and more transparent while simultaneously making our internal processes more efficient. We are looking forward to advancing in the following phases in order to achieve the best possible service in our payments offering.”

Final Take

Santander’s latest move is being viewed by many as being a game changer, especially since the banking institution has such close ties with Ripple. However, it still remains to be seen if SWIFT really does team up with Ripple by the end of this year.