QNB’s partnership with Ripple was first announced in April.

In a groundbreaking step, Ripple partner QNB has introduced a direct remittance service for transfers of funds from Qatar to the Philippines, making it the Gulf state’s first bank to offer the service. 

Ripple is the leading provider of crypto solutions for businesses. The service will allow users to instantly send payments of up to PHP50,000 to any bank in the Philippines, and will primarily serve Filipinos living in Qatar.

To provide this service, QNB will connect with China Bank, one of the leading private universal banks in the Philippines, using Ripple’s financial technology ‘RippleNet’. 

With the new service, the bank hopes to provide its customers with a simple method for sending money abroad as well as a speedy and improved cross-border money transfer choice.

“QNB is our biggest partner in the MENA region and we are delighted to continuously strengthen this partnership on RippleNet to additional countries,” said Navin Gupta, managing director of South Asia and MENA at Ripple.

“The Philippines is one of the largest remittance receivers globally, and we are pleased to be connecting QNB with China Bank to process remittances from Qatar to the Philippines via Ripple Net.”

In 2021, Filipino workers who were employed abroad sent home remittances of over 31.4 billion USD. This is an increase over the sum from the previous year. A sizeable component of the Philippines’ gross domestic product was made up of personal remittances received there (GDP).

QNB’s partnership with Ripple was first announced in April. Ripple now operates as an Application Programming Interface (API) connection to help speed up international money transfer services under the new arrangement.

Transactions will be completed almost instantly under this setup.

The Gulf state’s goal to improve digital and cross-border payments, expand financial inclusion efforts, and deepen its commitment to sustainability drove QNB’s latest decision, which comes as various countries around the world attempt to improve cross-border payments – historically an inefficient and costly process.

QNB is the first to market with RippleNet, enhancing cross-border payments and rapidly expanding its remittance business across various nations. This relationship enables QNB’s clients to receive near-real-time payments, resulting in a unique and differentiated experience.

QNB Finansbank was the first to use Ripple’s global financial network technology, RippleNet, as part of a group rollout in Turkey, with ambitions to expand to other major remittance corridors in the near future.