Al Rajhi Bank (ARB), the world’s largest Islamic Bank, has completed a secure, cross-border money transfer using Ripple Blockchain Technology. This successful transaction marks the first time the technology has been used in Saudi Arabia. The recent transaction was a money transfer between Al Rajhi Bank’s Head Offices in Riyadh and Jordan. This milestone further highlights the technological integration of Al Rajhi Bank’s network and validates the Bank’s transformed customer experience and ongoing efforts to digitize customers’ banking experience. Steve Bertamini, Chief Executive Officer, said: “The blockchain initiative is part of Al Rajhi Bank’s Digital Transformation. This solution will deliver a best-in-class customer experience through reduced delivery times, lower cost and enhanced accuracy. We are committed to leading in this space by advancing new technologies for the benefit of our customers.” Commenting on the recent announcement, Al Rajhi COO Waleed Al Mogbel said: “We are very pleased with the outcome of this initiative. At Al Rajhi Bank, we continuously strive to innovate and maintain leading banking services, and this success confirms the potential of our existing operations. This technology will allow us to further reduce processing costs across our settlements and reconciliation processes, while improving the predictability and efficiency of our Intra-day liquidity management.” The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the 2nd leading country for remittance in the world. Al Rajhi Bank specifically is the leading bank in the region for remittances, with over 200 remittance centres across the Kingdom. The Bank is working closely with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency to make such technologies widely available to its retail and corporate customers.
