Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), the commercial oldest bank in Thailand, has partnered with Ripple to build a payment app that will run on Ripple’s network. The app, known as SCB Easy delivers instant, low-cost cross-border payments for over 16 million customers across the globe. This the bank says will bring “happiness and smiles to their customers” as it will make sending and receiving money very easy and seamless.

Exploring a Major Market for Payments

Asia has one of the biggest markets for digital payments and the largest percentage of the population using mobile applications for payments. In fact, 67% of Thailand’s population depends on mobile payment apps for sending and receiving money. However existing means of payment still do not provide the satisfaction that customers crave, and so they need for better methods.

SCB’s SVP of Commercial Banking, Arthit Sriumporn speaking on the situation said:

“It is so difficult to send and receive money today. People must physically go to a bank branch, fill out long and complicated forms and wait for payments to be received—with no transparency. With our service, their loved ones from abroad can transfer payment and receive money immediately,” said Sriumporn.

With SCB Easy, the bank is looking to explore Ripple’s speed to bring about transfer of funds more efficiently, faster and cheaper. A transfer of money with the app has been shown to take just 40 seconds to get the recipient’s end. This is a major leap from the existing infrastructure which takes hours, in some cases days to complete a transaction.

Countries marked for coverage this year with this service include Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Another service SCB plans to bring their way is cross-border EMVCo QR payments. This allows micropayments through simple scan of a QR code. This according to Sriumporn will allow foreigners visiting Thailand to simply scan codes using their mobile apps and receive goods and services without having to change currencies.

Ripple Excelling in Payments

What sets Ripple apart as a blockchain company is that it works in cooperation with existing infrastructure rather than trying to replace them. Its partnership with SCB is just one of the several collaborations Ripple has with traditional institutions. One of its partners, MoneyGram recently reported a dramatic surge in its online mobile transactions in December 2019.

By leveraging the company’s qualitative remittance network, SCB may be on the way to becoming a mainstream bank that offers the best cross-border payment service in Asia. Already known in the business of remittance, Ripple is also bound to rise even higher in the industry with such partnerships although its native token XRP does not seem to reflect the progress.

It is currently over 3% down in the last 24 hours after making some impressive gains in the last few days.