The National Bank of Abu Dhabi, NBAD, is pleased to be the first Middle East bank to introduce real time cross border payments on Blockchain technology. The new channel is intended to facilitate regional customers with simple, real time and secure way to process their cross border payments.

Ripple’s Distributed Financial Technology fits within NBAD’s existing infrastructure and offers a secure end-to-end payment flow providing transaction immutability and payment integrity. Integrated to the NBAD’s innovative payments infrastructure, the Ripple solution offers customers end-to-end visibility of transactions and allow for the instant transfer of funds to a beneficiary in a cost-effective manner.

With Ripple connectivity, NBAD aims to significantly progress the way cross border payments are made today by offering clear costs, improved delivery time and visibility into the transaction process, ultimately reducing the investment and resources required by customers to send payments.

Vineet Varma, Managing Director and Head of Global Transaction Banking for NBAD, said, "We’re always exploring new ways to enhance our customers’ experience. With blockchain, we hope that we could address the needs of our customers and drive forward more efficient and flexible service. Embracing technologies like Blockchain is a step in right direction for our customers."

Ramana Kumar, Managing Director and Head of GTB Business and Product Management, added, "At NBAD, we strive to ensure our offerings are efficient and transparent. Blockchain technology transforms and paves a new way in achieving our goals and better serve our customers, adding value through accessibility and transparency. As an initial adopter and first bank to go live on Ripple, NBAD offers innovative solutions to our clients payments needs."

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, added, "Banks and their customers have been hearing about the promise of blockchain technology to enable real-time cross-border payments. Now, some of the most innovative and successful banks like NBAD are making this a reality by offering Ripple-enabled payments to their entire customer base, and in doing so, paving the way to make 2017 the year we see broad commercialisation of blockchain take hold globally."

NBAD is the first bank in the region to provide customers with Ripple’s technology, joining a growing list of premium companies and institutions around the world, including Santander, Standard Chartered, and UniCredit.

According to the 2016 World Bank migration and remittances factbook, the UAE is ranked as the fourth top remittance-sending country in the world, accounting for more than US$19 billion, AED70 billion.