• General Manager of American Express hinted that its pilot tests with Ripple to allow real-time cross-border corporate payments have been successful
• American Express has joined the blockchain network RippleNet
• They are also predicted to collaborate with Santander UK, which can be a road to the development of a mechanism to move corporate funds between the United Kingdom and the United States in real time

Blockchain technology is receiving renewed support from different organizations. One of these organizations is the multinational financial services corporation American Express. Their Corporate Payments’ General Manager, Carlos Carriedo, has hinted that its pilot tests with Ripple to allow real-time cross-border corporate payments have been successful.

Still getting used to blockchain

According to reports from Invest in Blockchain this week, Carriedo gave a statement at the Wings of Change Europe conference. In his statement, he focused on American Express’ interest in the blockchain technology. To quote Carriedo, he said:

“Blockchain is absolutely an option we’re looking at. Just to give you a sense, we have invested in a FinTech lab based on blockchain technology, just to understand how to leverage this better.”

The General Manager particularly mentioned the blockchain company Ripple since it is working with American Express and Santander in testing a blockchain-powered and cross-border payments solution. Carriedo added:

“We did a test, partnering with Santander locally, and with Ripple to just do cross-border transactions. And in a matter of seconds, through this test, our clients were able to transfer funds in a very transparent and seamless way, from one part of the world to the other one.” 

The future is digital

In 2018, American Express joined RippleNet by Ripple. It is a blockchain network which is designed to give real-time B2B payments. They also have other members including Crédit Agricole and Airwallex. This partnership sees American Express FX International Payments collaborating with Santander UK. The partnership can be a road to the development of a mechanism to move corporate funds between the United Kingdom and the United States in real time.

There are also reports saying that despite Carriedo’s suggestion at the success of these tests, many still think that more needs to be done in order to bring the solution to the market. Carriedo said:

“There is more to come. There’s still a lot of things that need to get addressed with blockchain as a technology. But it’s very promising. The future is definitely digital. Digital is the way payments will continue to be across both the consumer part of the business and the commercial part of the business.”