An over 400 percent increase in remittance inflows over the last ten years has sparked new demand for faster, low-cost global payments. Driven by emerging market economies, remittances around the world totaled over 600 billion dollars last year. Across these same regions small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs), propelled by global payment flows, were responsible for nearly 60% of employment.

Ripple has been at the forefront of addressing this need for both the expanding global remittance market and growing SMEs in emerging economies.

As of today, RippleNet is active in over 40 countries across six continents. New payment corridors have opened up in North America, Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. This provides new access to better international payment services in markets where remitters and SMEs are in the most need.

What’s more, RippleNet’s newest corridors have a combined potential market that totals over $2 Billion in inflows over the last year:

InstaReM and RationalFX opened up new corridors from the United Kingdom to Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Remitr and FlutterWave established a RippleNet corridor to Nigeria from Canada, the first connection on RippleNet in Africa.

BeeTech and InstaReM created corridors from Brazil to Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Portugal.

This year alone, global remittances are expected to reach $642 billion. This is more than three times the official government aid received worldwide in 2017. There is no doubt that access to faster, more reliable and lower cost international payments services offers a lifeline for tens of millions of the world’s poor.

For growing SMEs in many of these markets, it is difficult to secure the financing need to hire quickly and buy materials and equipment. A credit gap estimated at over $1.2 trillion is already slowing their growth and hampering economic progress.

Any further friction, due to unnecessary delays in sending and receiving payments abroad, derails an SME’s plans to expand or worse, it puts them out of business entirely. This is precisely why demand for services, like those provided through RippleNet, are so high.

RippleNet provides financial institutions that handle remittances and SME transactions in emerging markets a unique advantage, by streamlining their payment flows making them faster, more transparent and cheaper.

Remitters and SMEs across the world, and particularly in emerging markets, are no longer hampered by an inefficient global payments infrastructure. Transactions on RippleNet are instant and tracked end-to-end, allowing money to move across borders and into new markets without impediment.

Contact us to learn more about the technology behind RippleNet or to find out how to join.