The agreement will see both parties working to develop a faster, efficient, cost-effective and secure channel to execute cross-border payments in regional and foreign currencies.

In this regard, H.E Dr. Al Hamidy told the media, “Buna and Visa partnership is in line with our strategic approach to join forces with international institutions that share with us the same vision to contribute to the development and growth of the payment industry across the Arab world and globally. With this initiative, Buna continues to develop and grow its diversified pool of innovative solutions, providing its participant banks additional safe and credible channels to broaden their cross-payment capacities, implement innovative business models and better serve their clientele.

“Both Visa and Buna will capitalize on this partnership to deliver joint cross-border payment products and services that are risk controlled and with broad coverage and extended availability to better serve the diverse needs of the financial and payment community in the Arab region and beyond.”

Recently, Visa purchased a CryptoPunk, which is part of a line of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that allow people to transfer images and other items over the internet and track their ownership, for about $150,000.

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This connection is the first of its kind that links the retail payment system operators in both countries and also marks a key milestone in the ASEAN Payment Connectivity initiative that aims to promote financial integration in the region. The development of the QR payment system is similar to that launched between Singapore and Thailand and Malaysia and Thailand, where the countries announced their own cross-border payment.

The pilot launch of the QR payment system will focus on ensuring smooth interconnection and pave the way for customers, merchants, and operators for the full commercial launch next year. Currently, users from Indonesia can now use their mobile payment application to scan Thai QR codes to make payments to merchants all over Thailand.

Similarly, users from Thailand can also use their mobile payment applications to scan Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) to pay for goods and services at merchants in Indonesia along with using this feature for e-commerce transactions.

Sugeng Sugeng, deputy governor of Bank Indonesia told the media, “One interesting aspect of this project is the use of direct quotation of local currency exchange rates provided by the Appointed Cross Currency Dealer (ACCD) banks under the Local Currency Settlement (LCS) Framework to improve the efficiency of the transactions, thus lowering transaction costs.”

“The significant expected outcome of this first cross-border payment project is not only to facilitate transactions in the tourism sector but also to assist SMEs in tourist areas. This project will also increase financial inclusion, inclusive digital economy, and e-commerce transactions.”

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Airtel Payments Bank and Airtel Africa are subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel. The new real-time payment service will have millions of Airtel Payments Bank accounts in India and mobile wallet offering across 14 African countries. 

Western Union and Bharti Airtel’s combined service is expected to launch this year. 

Western Union’s partnership with Airtel Payments Bank in India will ensure seamless money transfers in the country. Likewise, its partnership with Airtel Africa will allow more than 15 million Airtel Money mobile wallet users in Nigeria, Uganda, Gabon, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Madagascar, Kenya, Congo, Niger, Tchad, Rwanda and Seychelles, to accept overseas money transfers without any hassle.

Raghunath Mandava, CEO of Airtel Africa, said in a statement, “This partnership will give our customers the convenience and security of directly receiving and sending remittances from their Airtel mobile money wallets. They will now be automatically credited and debited via their Airtel mobile money wallets on their phone and can immediately access the funds to pay bills or merchants and transfer funds to family and friends or convert to cash from the widespread Airtel Money agents, kiosks and branches.”

Airtel Payments Bank has established more than 500,000 banking points across India. Airtel Africa is a leading telecom and mobile money services provider across 14 African countries. 

Currently, Western Union has its presence in more than 100 countries, with 40 banking and payment partnerships. 

The post Western Union, Bharti Airtel to launch cross-border payment in Africa appeared first on International Finance.

Ripple on CoinDesk said, “This ground-breaking pilot program is the first of its kind to be launched by a central bank. Participating banks from the [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] will use xCurrent to instantly settle payments sent into and out of the country, with greater transparency and lower costs.”

Most GCC countries are focused on fintechs to enhance their banking efficiency. UAE’s money transfer and forex giant Western Union has also partnered with Ripple to push real-time cross-border payments using blockchain.

Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek told Bloomberg, “We are looking especially in the processing settlement and working capital optimization, also in the regulation part, on the compliance part on the blockchain capabilities. And we do test, we do have some tests with Ripple.”

Saudi Arabian could easily save up to US$400mn each year using the blockchain software, according to Moody’s Investor Service.

The Moody’s Report reads “Moody’s estimates that even a 10 percent reduction in the cost of completing and managing a cross-border transaction will translate to savings of roughly $200m-$400m per year system-wide.”

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