Attijariwafa bank, one of the largest banks in Morocco and Africa has entered into a partnership with Thunes to offer real-time payment services to its customers.
This partnership will enable the bank account owners to send and receive global remittances in their accounts directly.
Customers of Thunes from around the world will be able to transfer funds in real-time at low cost, to Moroccan bank accounts.
Today, Thunes offers payment services to be made in 79 different currencies, and 130 different countries, and accepts around 300 different payment methods.
Through Ripple, the pioneer in enterprise and blockchain solutions, and its global financial platform RippleNet, Thunes is linked to Attijariwafa bank.
Customers of Attijariwafa bank will be able to quickly receive transfers from all over the world starting through the Thunes network thanks to the connectivity to RippleNet and Thunes. Customers of other Moroccan banks can be reached through local clearance.
Morocco is the third-largest recipient of remittances after Nigeria and Egypt. It has a sizable diaspora and a sound regulatory system that encourages the use of digital payment services and lowers costs.
According to the World Bank, throughout the pandemic in Morocco, personal remittance inflows rose significantly, recording an estimated $7.4 billion by the end of 2020.
Commenting on this partnership with Attijariwafa bank, Asma Ben Gamra, Thunes Vice-President of Network Development for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Morocco is a major power in the North African economy, with a GDP of over $100 billion and it is an important financial hub in the region. Cross-border payments have been difficult since, in the past, clients had to transmit money to Morocco through time-consuming, expensive means.
Today, we are happy to announce our partnership with Attijariwafa bank, which will allow for easy bank-to-bank transfers to any Moroccan bank account. Customers who frequently make cross-border payments will notice a significant improvement, and this will mark an important turning point in the evolution of our Network in North Africa, Gamra underlined.
Adding further, Gamra said that the relationship with Attijariwafa bank supports Thunes’ objective to improve financial access globally by developing more effective and cheap payment systems. The firm is working on this mission with the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Brooks Entwistle, SVP of Global Customer Success, and MD of APAC and MENA at Ripple said that they are happy with the partnership with Thunes, and together we look forward to providing faster, more affordable, and more transparent cross-border payments experiences for customers in Morocco and the greater MENA region.
Speaking on how this will benefit banks’ clients, Ms. Nawal Alami, Head of Cash Management and Payments at Attijariwafa bank said that partnership with Thunes will make them exchange in a transparent, safe, and immediate fashion.
Apart from providing banking services to the Moroccan population living abroad, customers of Attijariwafa Bank will now be able to quickly receive transfers that were started through partners who are part of the same network.
What is RippleNet?
Using distributed financial technology developed by Ripple, RippleNet is a decentralized worldwide network of banks and payment processors that offers real-time messaging, clearing, and settlement of financial transactions.
Through the use of RippleNet, corporations, banks, payment processors, and exchanges of digital assets may all transmit money internationally without experiencing any delays.
RippleNet provides various use cases that include e-invoicing, global currency account, international bill pay, Real-time remittances, and international P2P payments, international supply chain payments, and real-time cash pooling. Today, RippleNet is used by over 100 financial institutions globally.
With Moroccan banks under XRP folds, the adoption of XRP for real-time payments will further rise, challenging the slow and expensive SWIFT payment system that is currently used by banks globally.
