Standard Chartered Completes Cross-Border Payment In Less Than 10 Seconds

Standard Chartered announced on Wednesday (Sept. 28) the completion of the first real-time cross-border payment for businesses with another major correspondent bank. The move is Standard Chartered’s latest step to leverage distributed ledger technology for its clients as part of the recently launched “Banking the ecosystem” strategy.

In a press release, Standard Chartered said the pilot, which uses Ripple’s enterprise blockchain solutions, saw the cross-border payment being completed in less than 10 seconds and had full transparency of fees and FX. Typically, it takes up to two days for businesses to make cross-border funds transfers, Standard Chartered said. “This initiative is an integral part of our digitization agenda in the area of distributed ledger technology as we continue to explore new ways of adding value to our clients and the industry,” said Alex Manson, global head of transaction banking at Standard Chartered, in the press release. “Digitization is a priority for the bank to better serve our clients by connecting business communities in a more efficient way. Payments innovation is a key area of focus in order to bank our clients’ ecosystem and make it more cohesive, reduce risk and increase transparency.”

According to Standard Chartered, with the initiative, once it’s fully commercialized, businesses will have the ability to access and make cross-border payments in real time, at any time of the day, without being restricted by cutoff times. In addition to that, fee and FX transparency, along with real-time status updates, will provide businesses greater control and certainty on their payments, costs and the use of funds. “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Standard Chartered on this initiative to make cross-border payments truly efficient for their customers. This marks a major step towards real-time financial settlement,” Ripple CEO and Cofounder Chris Larsen said in the same press release. “Together, we’re building the foundation for the seamless flow of value and new business opportunities that haven’t previously been possible.”